THE Royal Family’s support for Prince Andrew is “thin on the ground” as only immediate family members are behind the Duke, an expert claims.
It seems the 61-year-old is quickly running out of allies ahead of his court battle with rape accuser Virginia Roberts.
Senior royals are said to be sick of the media circus and shame the allegations have stirred up, after it was dubbed the “biggest constitutional crisis in living memory”.
It threatens to overshadow the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, much to the frustration of other members of the Firm eager to see the back of the case.
Senior royal aides are all urging Andrew to settle as soon as possible to prevent him from dragging the “whole monarchy through the mud”.
But the Queen is rumoured to be still bankrolling his case – although it would be considered a PR disaster if she paid an alleged sex abuse victim to end claims against her son.
It has forced Andrew to flog his luxury chalet in Verbier, Switzerland, to keep his legal funds afloat.
Now royal expert Chris Ship has suggested many members of the family have taken a step back from Andrew and revoked their moral support.
He told Good Morning Britain: “From what I hear, his immediate family – Sarah Ferguson, his two daughters – are behind him.
“But other members of the Royal family very much are not and are wanting to try and end this in whatever way they can in terms of the damage for the wider institution.
“The support he has amongst the wider family is very, very thin on the ground indeed,” he said.
Buckingham Palace declined to comment on the claims.
The damning analysis of Royal relations comes after the Duke of York scrambled to sell his Swiss ski chalet to have a stash of cash to pay off Virginia Giuffre.
He has settled on a price with a mystery millionaire for his Verbier home believed to be in excess of £17million.
Andrew is understood to be prepared to do “whatever is necessary” to stop his sex abuse case overshadowing the Queen’s big year.
But Her Majesty could be asked to help fund a potential multi-million settlement with his accuser.
A deal – likely to exceed £5million – could see her contribute cash from her private Duchy of Lancaster estate to pay off Ms Giuffre.
The bombshell decision from the judge to continue the case in which he is accused of sexually abusing Ms Giuffre when she was just 17 has rocked the institution once more.
ANDREW IS ‘FINISHED’
A royal expert said the Duke of York is “finished” as a working royal and will likely lose all military honours amid his ongoing court battle.
He has not attended a single military event since he stepped back from royal duties two years ago and is expected to be “invisible” during Platinum Jubilee events.
Andrew has strenuously denied all allegations.
Leading commentator Phil Dampier told The Celeb Report Online he may likely pay off his accuser to avoid any further embarrassment for Her Majesty.
In a car-crash interview with the BBC he denied ever meeting her and if he appears in court, he will certainly be cross examined under oath about that claim.
Andrew’s current predicament stems from his controversial friendship with paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, who Ms Giuffre alleges introduced her to the royal.
She accused Epstein of raping her and sued him but reached an out of court settlement in 2009 in which she was paid $500,000 (£371,000) in return for dropping the case.
Prince Andrew’s lawyers argued he was covered by an part of the settlement in which she also agreed not to sue “any other person or entity who could have been included as a potential defendant”.
But David Boies, Ms Giuffre’s lawyer, said only the parties of the settlement agreement – Epstein and Ms Giuffre and their associates – could benefit from it, and not a “third party” such as Andrew.
Judge Lewis A Kaplan agreed and said Prince Andrew’s motion was “denied in all respects”.
He said the 2009 agreement cannot “demonstrate, clearly and unambiguously” show the parties intended to “benefit Prince Andrew”.
