The British monarchy is an exercise in defying historical gravity. In 1900, most of the world was governed by royal dynasties. Today, they are a vanishing breed. The Romanovs, Hohenzollerns and Habsburgs have gone up in flames. The Scandinavian royals are mere bicycling monarchs. Britain’s royal family is unusual, along with Japan’s, in preserving the magnificence if not the substance of power.
The Prince Andrew affair — his entanglement with the pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, the sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell and, through them, his accuser, Virginia Giuffre — is the worst thing that has happened to the Windsors since Edward VIII’s abdication in 1936.
A month ago, the prince was bravely promising to clear his name in court of charges that he sexually abused and raped Giuffre on three separate occasions when she was 17. On Tuesday, he reached an out-of-court settlement with her in which he agreed to pay a “substantial donation” — estimates suggest that it was in excess of 10 million pounds ($13.5 million) — to her charity supporting the rights of victims of sexual abuse. The terms of the deal prevent either side from discussing the case or the settlement itself in public. The prince didn’t issue an apology or admit to any wrongdoing. But he has cleared himself of legal jeopardy by leaving his reputation, such as it was, in tatters. “His final disgrace” was the tabloid headline splashed on The Sun.
