Prince Andrew is allegedly considering calling on actor Kevin Spacey to help him out with this trial for sexual assault.
The Prince, 61, is being sued for sexual assault in a civil case in the US bought by Virginia Giuffre. The 38-year-old alleges she was made to have sex with the Prince on three occasions when she was 17 (then known by her maiden name of Virginia Roberts).
Last week, Prince Andrew’s lawyers filed an 11-page document listing reasons for the case to be dismissed. It also sought to further distance the Prince from British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, the on-off girlfriend of the late sex trafficker and pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
Related: Royal Family “deeply shocked” at what Prince Andrew just demanded
Maxwell was herself found guilty last month in her own sex trafficking trial. She will be sentenced on June 28.
Several photos exist of Prince Andrew and Ghislaine Maxwell together. At her trial last December, a photo of Epstein and Maxwell relaxing at the Queen’s Scottish estate, Balmoral, was also made public. It’s understood Andrew invited the couple there, although he has declined to comment on this.
There is also a 2002 photo of Ghislaine Maxwell and Kevin Spacey sitting on the thrones at Buckingham Palace. However, according to The Sun, Prince Andrew did not invite her. It says he invited Spacey, and the actor brought Maxwell as his guest. The visit was part of one organized for Bill Clinton and several other VIPS.
A source told the tabloid, “Andrew had invited Spacey for the tour of the Palace. She came with him — not as a guest of Andrew’s.”
The insider went on to say, “The snaps go right to the center of the claims against Andrew, and an image of Ghislaine Maxwell in the most private space within Buckingham Palace looks very damning.
“But if Kevin can convince a jury he was the crucial link with Ghislaine, rather than Andrew, it distances the Prince from her somewhat — and that’s crucial.
“Andrew also believes such a gifted actor and public speaker could be a very compelling asset in front of a jury.”
Related: Former closet case Kevin Spacey’s house of cards just collapsed
Although at the height of his career back in 2002, Spacey largely disappeared from view after 2017, after several men came forward with allegations of sexual misconduct against him.
His downfall began when Star Trek actor Anthony Rapp told Buzzfeed of his experiences with Spacey when he was a teenager. He says that when he was 14 and acting in a play, he’d attended a party thrown by the then 26-year-old Spacey. He says Spacey made unwanted sexual advances toward him.
Spacey responded on Twitter, saying he did not remember the encounter, was “beyond horrified to hear his story” and offered Rapp the “sincerest apology for what would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behavior.” In the same statement, Spacey revealed publicly for the first time that he is gay.
Twenty other men subsequently came forward to make similar accusations against the Oscar-winning star. He was quickly dropped from Netflix‘s House of Cards and his part in a Ridley Scott movie, All The Money In The World, was reshot with Christopher Plummer.
Spacey has denied all the subsequent allegations of sexual misconduct. Last November, he was slapped with a $31 million fine as part of a settlement deal with the producers of House of Cards. The producers said Spacey “repeatedly breached his contractual obligations” on the show, rendering him responsible for millions lost by the company.
Cam
So Andrew’s big plan to prove he wasn’t close to one child trafficker and sexual predator is to get another child sexual predator to defend him.
Next he’ll be asking for Josh Duggar to join his legal team.
rangerwilcox
yikes, this is going downhill even faster now…
Mr. Stadnick
I was hoping Queerty was announcing Andrew’s close and personal friendship with Ron Jeremy.
Doug
LOL!
Jaquelope
Birds of a feather will flock together.
Fahd
I’d classify this move as “grasping at straws”. The plaintiff will be able to establish that Andrew had a long standing close relationship with Maxwell that goes way back before and separate from any relationship with Spacey.
Also, maybe Andrew’s people aren’t up-to-date on Spacey’s press and situation. There’s the concept of impeaching a witness, so I don’t really think anything to which Spacey would testify would wind up being given much weight by the jury.
If this is the kind of stuff Andrew has, I think he better just focus on settling, which I am sure he is already doing. I’m beginning to think that if there were an easier way out of this, his team would/should have found it by now.
Kangol2
Oh, Randy Andy, this is not the clever strategy you seem to think it is….
Mack
I don’t think Spacey wants to get involved in that shit show. Once he on the stand he might be putting himself in deeper trouble. Because once it’s in the records, he held to it.
Godof 1967
Better than a soap opera only playing in real time.
“Mummy they’re saying bad things about me”
scotty
and ex prince andrew to the “girl, bye” category. he wins.