Prince Andrew has agreed to settle a lawsuit filed by Virginia Giuffre

Giuffre, who now lives in Australia, says she was sexually trafficked to the British royal by Jeffrey Epstein when she was 17.

The deal struck between Prince Andrew and Virginia Giuffre means averting a royal disaster in front of a New York court.

Prince Andrew has settled a civil sexual assault case brought against him in the US by Virginia Giuffre.

Giuffre was suing the Duke of York, claiming he sexually assaulted her three times when she was just 17, but those are allegations he continues to deny to this day.

A letter filed to the US district court on Tuesday says the duke and Giuffre had reached an out-of-court settlement and Prince Andrew will pay an undisclosed sum to Giuffre’s charity for victims of abuse.

This will come at a very significant financial cost to the Prince

Giuffre’s lawyer wrote a joint letter with Prince Andrew’s lawyers to say the pair had reached “a settlement in principle.”

In the letter, Prince Andrew recognised the woman had suffered.

Prince Andrew makes no admission of liability, and the deal says nothing about removing the accusations that Giuffre made against him.

However, he admits he regrets his association with the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein

He commends the “bravery of Ms Giuffre and other survivors in standing up for themselves and others”.

Although a settlement has been made, there is also the cost to reputation you can’t buy back

Outside the letter he had no further comment to make and Buckingham Palace declined to comment on the settlement.