Prince Andrew sexual abuse accuser Virginia Guiffre’s claims that a car crash has left her in hospital with just four days to live will raise uncomfortable questions around her credibility – if it transpires that she has exaggerated her injuries – friends of the duke have told MailOnline.
Ms Giuffre posted a photo of her bruised face lying on a hospital bed on Instagram and said doctors told her she is going to die due to kidney failure following the wreck.
‘This year has been the worst start to a new year, but I won’t bore anyone with the details but I think it important to note that when a school bus driver comes at you driving 110km as we were slowing for a turn that no matter what your car is made of it might as well be a tin can,’ the 42-year-old wrote in a post on Sunday.
Her claims have prompted a chorus of questions surrounding the circumstances of the crash – and whether she is exaggerating the extent of her injuries.
The prince’s former girlfriend socialite Victoria Hervey has called Ms Guiffre a ‘fantasist’ and suggested that she was lying over the extent of the crash.
Lady Victoria, 48, has been slammed as ‘nasty’ and ‘vile’ by many social media users since she posted Giuffre’s selfie of herself in a hospital bed with the word ‘Karma’ added to it.
But the socialite aristocrat who briefly dated Andrew in 1999 refused to back down from her brutal Instagram post today.
Speaking exclusively to MailOnline, she said she was continuing to doubt Ms Giuffre’s claims that she had been seriously hurt in a crash with a school bus in Australia and having only days to live due to her injuries including kidney failure.
She said: ‘Virginia Guiffre is a fantasist. It’s been a long drawn out process these last few years, but it’s unravelling. Her lies are being exposed. Let’s see in three days, but I bet she will still be alive’
She spoke out as police in Australia appeared to confirm that Ms Giuffre had only been involved in what had been described as a ‘minor’ crash with a bus with no initial reports of anyone being injured
Virginia Giuffre, 41, shared a photo of herself from her hospital bed covered in bruises she had apparently sustained from a speeding bus crash
Virgina Giuffre (centre), née Roberts, claimed she was sexually assaulted as a teenager by Prince Andrew (left) after being recruited by Ghislaine Maxwell (pictured right)
But the claims by Ms Giuffre prompted a chorus of questions from Prince Andrew’s allies – including his former, socialite Victoria Hervey (pictured) who called Ms Guiffre a ‘fantasist’
Lady Victoria insisted she had no regrets about re-posting the ‘Karma’ message accompanied by the rocking soundtrack of Europe’s 1986 glam rock smash ‘The Final Countdown’ after it was originally posted by a friend.
She said: ‘I re-posted the Karma (post) because I felt, well you know, she deserves it. But I also knew in my head that she was lying.’
She spoke out as police in Australia appeared to confirm that Ms Giuffre had only been involved in what had been described as a ‘minor’ crash with a bus with no initial reports of anyone being injured.
A Western Australia Police Force spokesperson later said they were aware of a ‘minor crash’ between a bus and a car in Neergabby, north of Perth, on March 24.
The collision was reported by the bus driver the following day. The car sustained about $2,000 worth of damage but there were no injuries reported, the spokesperson said.
Ms Giuffre’s spokesperson Dini von Mueffing, said: ‘Virginia has been in a serious accident and is receiving medical care in the hospital. She greatly appreciates the support and well wishes people are sending.’
Prince Andrew’s ex shared Ms Giuffre’s post to Instagram and wrote ‘karma’ (pictured) and said she had no regrets, as she accused Ms Giuffre of lying about the crash
Pictured is Sir Charles Gardiner Hospital where Ms Giuffre was taken to after her crash
Prince Andrew and Lady Victoria (right) are seen together in January 2002 at a New Year’s party inside the Reform Club in London
Ms Giuffre found herself at the centre of one of the world’s biggest scandals when she launched legal action against billionaire Jeffrey Epstein in 2015.
She alleged she was trafficked for sex at age 16 after his associate and ex-lover, Ghislaine Maxwell recruited her from her job as a locker room attendant at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida.
Ms Giuffre and Maxwell eventually reached an undisclosed settlement over a defamation case in 2017.
Epstein took his own life in a jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges, while Maxwell was jailed for 20 years in 2022 for conspiring with him to sexually abuse minors.
Ms Giuffre alleges Epstein forced her to have sex with Prince Andrew on at least three occasions when she was 17 and that she spent two days alone with the royal in New Mexico.
In 2022 she received an out-of-court settlement reported to be worth millions from the Duke of York.
The settlement accepted no liability and Andrew has always strongly rejected claims.
But he agreed to pay the unspecified amount to Ms Giuffre and her charity for victims’ rights.
In the wake of the scandal, Andrew lost his military titles and royal patronages as well as the use of His Royal Highness title.
Her father Sky Roberts has previously spoken of his torment knowing he helped his daughter get a job alongside him at the Trump resort, before she was recruited as a masseuse by Maxwell.
Virginia Giuffre (pictured with her now-estranged husband Robert Giuffre) found herself at the centre of one of the world’s biggest scandals after first launching legal action against billionaire Jeffrey Epstein in 2015
‘As a parent you kind of ask the question, ‘How do you not know your children are doing this?’,’ Mr Roberts said previously.
‘But she’s a very good actress. When she would come home from these trips she said nothing about it. It must have been killing her inside.
‘But for powerful people like that, they can threaten a young girl like that.’
But Mr Roberts was shocked by his daughter’s late night Instagram post and also appeared to be in the dark about the incident.
‘Virginia my daughter, I love you and praying you get the correct treatment to live a long and healthy life,’ he wrote.
‘If there is anything in the world, I can do to help you, please let me know. My spirit is with you now and holding your hand.’
He told DailyMail.com that he is ‘sick to my stomach’ and would do anything to be able to fly from his home in Florida to be by his daughter’s hospital bedside in Australia following a horrific car crash.
‘I’m sick to my stomach. I feel like crying because I love my daughter more than life,’ he said.
‘If there’s anything I could do, I’d do it.’
Virginia Giuffre with her father Sky Roberts. He told DailyMail.com that he is ‘sick to my stomach’ following her shocking announcement
Pictured is Ms Giuffre’s late night social media post, in which she said she had been in a horror crash involving a school bus
Ms Giuffre’s last known address was with her estranged husband, Robert Giuffre, and their three children at a $1.9million beachfront property in Ocean Reef, North Perth in Western Australia.
American-born Ms Giuffre met her Australian martial arts instructor husband when she was 19 during a trip to Thailand.
The pair married 10 days later and later moved to Australia, eventually settling in West Australia in December 2020.
Eight months later, she filed court paperwork suing Prince Andrew for sexual assault.
But the couple, who had been married for 22 years, recently parted ways, with Ms Giuffre claiming she is now estranged from their three teenage children.
‘I’m ready to go, just not until I see my babies one last time,’ she added in her Instagram post.
‘But you know what they say about wishes. S*** in one hand and wish in the other and I guarantee it’s still going to be s*** at the end of the day.’
She ended the post, on an account which uses her maiden name, by saying goodbye and thanking her followers for being a ‘great part’ of her life.
Due to the shocking nature of the claims, Prince Andrew lost military titles and royal patronages as well as the use of the title His Royal Highness.
Following the news, royal author Robert Jobson said: ‘If she truly is at death’s door, it’s a tragic and awful turn of events.
‘But if not, this raises troubling questions about her credibility – ones that Prince Andrew and his defenders have been asking for years.
‘Giuffre has long been a controversial figure. While no one disputes she was trafficked by Jeffrey Epstein, inconsistencies in her statements have been scrutinised.
‘A US judge dismissed parts of her testimony in past legal proceedings, and some of her claims have been questioned or struck from the record.
‘She has previously misidentified individuals in her allegations, raising doubts about the reliability of her evidence.
‘In 2015, in another case Judge Kenneth A. Marra ruled that her claims against Prince Andrew and others were not relevant to a lawsuit under the U.S. Crime Victims’ Rights Act and ordered her affidavit to be struck from the record.
‘The judge did not rule on the truth of her allegations but deemed them legally inadmissible in that particular case.
Billionaire Jeffrey Epstein (pictured in May 2005) took his own life in a jail cell in 2019 while awaiting his sex trafficking trial
‘She settled her case against Prince Andrew out of court for millions — he, of course, has always denied the allegations — but the settlement meant her claims were never tested fully in court.
‘Now, in what may or may not be her final moments, she makes an extraordinary claim.
‘If true, it deserves every ounce of sympathy and support.
‘But if not, it further muddies an already complicated narrative.’
‘The world – and Prince Andrew now a royal outcast – watches, waiting for clarity – but clarity has never been Giuffre’s strong suit.’
