Prince Andrew latest: Princess Eugenie seen for first time since returning from Switzerland

Princess Eugenie was today driven away from her father Prince Andrew’s residence in Windsor by her husband, four days after the Queen removed his honorary military roles and he gave up his use of the HRH style.

The 31-year-old royal, who is 12th in line to the throne and can still use the HRH title, was seen in the back of Range Rover Vogue hybrid electric car while being driven out of Royal Lodge in the grounds of Windsor Great Park.

Eugenie and husband Jack Brooksbank, 35, live about three miles away with their 11-month-old son August at Frogmore Cottage, which was the first family home of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle before they left Britain.

Eugenie, her sister Princess Beatrice and mother Sarah Ferguson are all waiting to hear if they will be dragged into Andrew’s court case in New York as lawyers for Virginia Giuffre say who they wish to interview under oath.

The next stage of the sexual assault case brought by Andrew’s sex accuser is for both sides to formally interview witnesses, done outside of a courtroom-setting but with a court recorder sitting in.

Known as depositions, the hearings allow lawyers to ask any question, no matter how personal. Reports in the Sun and Telegraph over the weekend claimed family would not have to give evidence, but this is not yet confirmed.

Andrew, 61, is thought to still be at his 31-room Royal Lodge home and allegedly hosted around a dozen family friends there on Friday evening including Eugenie and Mr Brooksbank before a shoot at Windsor Great Park.

The shooting party was a Christmas present from the Queen to Eugenie and her husband, reported The Sun. Andrew and his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson, 62, did not go on the shoot but joined the party for lunch at the York Club.

Today was the first time Eugenie has been seen in ten days, after she was last spotted in a car park outside London Heathrow Airport on January 7 with her family following their ski trip to Switzerland without Andrew. 

Her sister Beatrice was most recently seen last Thursday out shopping in London’s Chelsea while pushing her three-month-old daughter Sienna in a pram, where she kept a low profile and drank a takeaway coffee. 

The Queen’s move last Thursday was a humiliation for Andrew and came one day after the lawsuit against him took a big step forward when a judge threw out his motion to dismiss the sexual assault case and ruled it can go to trial.

Andrew, who was born an HRH, will not use it any official capacity, and was also stripped of his remaining royal patronages in a decision which represented the Duke of York’s complete removal from official royal life.

The dramatic move was also seen as an attempt to distance the monarchy from Andrew, who was once second in line to the throne as the spare to the heir, in the year of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. 

It comes as Andrew was accused of a ‘tone-deaf’ defence in his legal battle with Virginia Giuffre – who used to be known as Virginia Roberts – after his lawyers suggested she may have ‘false memories’ of her encounters with him.

Eugenie, 31, was driven away from Prince Andrew’s Royal Lodge home in Windsor today by her husband Jack Brooksbank, 35

Princess Eugenie was last pictured on January 7, speaking with her mother Sarah Ferguson outside London Heathrow Airport 

In a scathing response to the duke’s demand for Ms Giuffre’s mental health records, her lawyer David Boies said: ‘She wouldn’t misremember sexual abuse by a prince of England.’

The claim about memory issues was made by Andrew in legal filings over the weekend in the case brought against him by Ms Giuffre at a court in New York.

She claims she had sex with Andrew three times when she was 17 in 2001 while under the control of Jeffrey Epstein, the late paedophile who was friends with the duke. Andrew has vehemently denied her allegations.

His lawyers have asked to interview Ms Giuffre’s psychologist, Dr Judith Lightfoot, about all their sessions, any prescriptions that were issued and the ‘theory of false memories’.

Ghislaine Maxwell used a ‘false memory expert’ during her trial for trafficking and recruiting underage girls for Epstein, but was found guilty on five of six counts.

Mr Boies told the Daily Mail: ‘This is exactly what Maxwell tried. It didn’t end well. People may misremember a lot of things, but they don’t misremember sexual abuse by a prince of England.

‘In addition, Prince Andrew needs to say that all the other people who saw them together also have ‘false memories’.’

Referring to the notorious photo of Andrew with Ms Giuffre in 2001 in London, Mr Boies added: ‘And how does a ‘false memory’ create a photograph?’

The filings from Andrew’s US lawyer, Andrew Brettler, requested help from the Australian government to question Dr Lightfoot.

Ms Giuffre, now a 38-year-old mother-of-three, currently lives in Australia and goes by her married name, Virginia Giuffre.

The legal filing stated: ‘Defendant contends that plaintiff may suffer from false memories, as evidenced by the fact that her claims regarding her time with Epstein and the circumstances under which defendant allegedly assaulted her have repeatedly changed over the years.’

A source close to the duke told The Sunday Times that focusing on false memories was from the ‘Maxwell playbook’. The tactics of Andrew’s legal team have also triggered a ‘victim blaming’ row.

Brad Edwards, a Florida lawyer who represents dozens of Epstein victims, called the strategy ‘so tone-deaf that it basically amounts to litigation suicide’. 

He said: ‘Taking another play out of the Epstein/Maxwell book and attacking Virginia is probably the only thing he can do to look worse. I’d say his defence can’t get worse, but last time I thought that he went on TV and gave what amounted to the most embarrassingly stupid interview of all time.’

Virginia Roberts is photographed with Prince Andrew and Ghislaine Maxwell in early 2001 in London’s Belgravia

Prince Andrew spoke about his links to Jeffrey Epstein in an interview with BBC Newsnight’s Emily Maitlis in November 2019

Spencer Kuvin, a Florida lawyer who represents several Epstein victims, said attacking a victim’s memory was a ‘horrible’ defence.

He said: ‘It’s a classic ‘re-abuse’ of the victim and an attempt to implicitly embarrass the victim in an attempt to intimidate them and hope the embarrassment and public shaming will make them drop their claims.’

Attorney Gloria Allred, who also represents numerous Epstein victims, said: ‘The prince is entitled to take the deposition of Virginia’s therapist for the purpose of determining emotional distress. That is not uncommon.

‘The court may have to determine her questions, eg: do they go over the line. It’s OK to ask the therapist about treatment, if she suffered problems to ascertain if she suffered emotional distress, and if her distress is caused by other issues.

‘If there are questions which are not appropriate that may have to be decided by the court.

‘Prince Andrew claims he can’t remember even meeting her [Ms Giuffre]. If he has a therapist she could take the deposition of his therapist.

‘Is Andrew’s memory of not recollecting meeting her, is that a false memory out of self-interest? He may have – maybe not a false memory – but he may have a selective memory that remembers certain facts but not others.’

The case is moving ahead after Judge Lewis Kaplan last week rejected a request by Andrew to dismiss it.

Afterwards, the Queen stripped Andrew of all his military patronages and the use of the style His Royal Highness, effectively isolating him from the family.

With a trial tentatively set for September, Andrew could settle the case but will reportedly have to pay as much as £10million.

The duke’s team have also asked to interview Ms Giuffre’s husband Robert under oath.

A source said: ‘Mrs Giuffre put her mental health at issue by suing for emotional distress damages.

‘The duke’s legal team are perfectly entitled to test her claims, determine her damages, if any, and see what she told her therapist or not.’