The Japan Times - Virginia Giuffre memoir goes on sale, piling pressure on Prince Andrew

The publication of Virginia Giuffre's book has refocused attention on the Epstein saga in both Britain and the US, where a row is raging over the release of files on the convicted sex offender.

In the UK, the re-emergence of allegations that Giuffre was forced to have sex with Andrew three times, including twice when she was only 17, prompted the prince on Friday to renounce his royal title and honours.

It followed reported pressure from his brother King Charles III and nephew, heir-to-the-throne Prince William.

Giuffre, a US and Australian citizen, took her own life in April aged 41, leaving behind her posthumous memoir "Nobody's Girl".

"She would view it as a victory that he was forced -- by whatever means -- to voluntarily give them up," the book's ghostwriter, Amy Wallace, told the BBC, referring to Andrew's titles.

"His life is being eroded because of his past behaviour."

In another interview Tuesday, the ghostwriter urged Andrew to cooperate with US authorities still probing Epstein's crimes.

"He saw things that were going on," she told Times Radio, adding "he could share that information with investigators".

- 'The prince had fun' -

US Congressman Pete Sessions, who is on a congressional oversight committee investigating Epstein, echoed the sentiment.

"It would be interesting to see what he did know, what he did see," he told the BBC.

Andrew, 65, who denies wrongdoing, agreed to pay Giuffre millions of dollars in 2022 to end her civil sexual assault case against him.

Her chart-topping memoir recounts three sexual encounters with Andrew -- one of which she claims was an orgy on Epstein's island that included Epstein, the prince and "eight other young girls".

At their first alleged meeting in March 2001, Giuffre recounts having sex with the prince at the London mews house of Ghislaine Maxwell, who was jailed two decades later for helping Epstein sexually abuse girls.

"He seemed in a rush to have intercourse," she said of Andrew. "Afterward, he said thank you in his clipped British accent."

She recalled Epstein snapping the notorious photograph of the prince with his arm around her, side-by-side with Maxwell, earlier in the evening.

Giuffre said Maxwell praised her the next morning, telling her: "You did well. The prince had fun."

Giuffre alleged Epstein soon gave her $15,000 for "servicing" Andrew.

She painfully recounts another incident on Epstein's island with a man she describes as "a former minister", without giving his nationality.

"He wanted violence. He repeatedly choked me until I lost consciousness," she wrote, adding she emerged bleeding from different parts of her body.

- Mansion furore -

The prince relinquished his royal duties and HRH title in 2019 following a disastrous TV interview about Giuffre's claims.

He now faces renewed calls to lose his title of prince, alongside demands for more transparency about his finances and housing arrangements.

Charles is preparing for a two-day Vatican state visit starting Wednesday.

A Buckingham Palace source told AFP the book's claims were of "very serious and grave concern" and should be "examined in the appropriate way".

Meanwhile, British newspaper the Times reported on Tuesday that Andrew had not paid rent for two decades on the 30-room Royal Lodge in Windsor, west of London, where he lives with ex-wife Sarah Ferguson.

It stems from a seemingly favourable 2003 deal for the mansion owned by the Crown Estate, the royal family's independently run land and property holdings.

In return for spending £8.5 million ($11.4 million) upfront on a lease and refurbishments, Andrew was not required to pay annual rent and can stay there until 2078, according to The Times.

Senior Conservative MP Robert Jenrick was among those to hit out, telling the newspaper it was "about time Prince Andrew took himself off to live in private" as "the public are sick of him".

In the US, the so-called Epstein files have been the focal point of the controversy engulfing Trump's second presidency.

Epstein, the president's one-time friend, took his own life in 2019 while in prison awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges.

Giuffre was recruited into Epstein's alleged sex-trafficking network by Maxwell while working at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in 2000.

She revealed in the book her subsequent treatment by Epstein and others led her to fear she would "die a sex slave".

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S.Yamada--JT