The Telegraph published a photo to ‘exonerate’ Prince Andrew from rape, trafficking

Prince Andrew has clearly hired a new publicity team and they are TERRIBLE. For the past week, we’ve been inundated with all of these breathlessly contemptible stories about how Andrew will try to overturn his settlement agreement with Virginia Giuffre and how he’s assembled a “war chest” to clear his name. There’s an outsized focus on trying to “discredit” Virginia, who was abused and trafficked for years by Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell when she was in her teens. Part of Virginia’s story is that Andrew forced her to take a bath with him at Maxwell’s London home, and following the bath, Andrew raped her. She was 17 years old at the time. Well, check out the Telegraph’s cover on Saturday: a photo arranged by Ghislaine Maxwell’s family to “clear” Andrew. But wait, it gets so much worse.

A photograph that the family of Ghislaine Maxwell believes discredits the Duke of York’s accuser has been made public. The image shows the bath in which the Duke is alleged to have engaged in sexual activity with a teenage girl. Two of Maxwell’s acquaintances are sitting in the bath, fully clothed, wearing makeshift masks depicting the Duke and Virginia Giuffre.

They posed for the image in an effort to prove that the bath was too small for the kind of behaviour alleged by Ms Giuffre, and planned to use it as part of her defence during her sex trafficking trial. The photograph was released after it emerged that the Duke hopes to overturn the multi-million pound settlement he struck with Ms Giuffre last February.

Ian Maxwell, 66, an elder brother of the shamed British socialite, said he was happy for the Duke to use the image if it helped his case. Ms Giuffre accused the Duke of raping and sexually abusing her three times in 2001, when she was 17. In a 2011 interview, she claimed she and the Duke got into the bath where “he started licking my toes, between my toes, the arches of my feet” before they went into the bedroom and had sex. In Dec 2019, she told BBC Panorama: “There was a bath and it started there and then led into the bedroom.”

Mr Maxwell told The Telegraph: “I am releasing my photographs now because the truth needs to come out. They show conclusively that the bath is too small for any sort of sex frolicking. There is no ‘Victorian bath’, as Giuffre has claimed, which is proved both by the attached plan of the bathroom and the photos themselves.”

[From The Telegraph]

So here we are, with the invisible contract visible to all – the Telegraph running rape and trafficking apologia on their front page on behest of Prince Andrew. One of the oldest conservative newspapers in the UK publishing a photo – provided by a family member of a convicted abuser and human trafficker – which they claim “disproves” Virginia’s story. A word about the actual photo – it disproves nothing. There clearly is room for two people.

Keep in mind, Andrew is the same human trafficking rapist who sat down on BBC Newsnight and said he felt he needed to break off his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein in person, and that’s why he stayed at Epstein’s New York mansion for years after Epstein took a sweetheart deal from the FBI on all of the pedophilia, abuse and trafficking charges. Andrew didn’t have to step down as a working royal because of Virginia’s many statements – he stepped down because of HIS OWN statements in that Newsnight interview. For all of this talk about Andrew wanting to clear his name, he was the one who sullied his name in the first place.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid, Cover Images, cover courtesy of the Telegraph.

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

114 Responses to “The Telegraph published a photo to ‘exonerate’ Prince Andrew from rape, trafficking”

Comments are Closed

We close comments on older posts to fight comment spam.

  1. ThatsNotOkay says:

    First off, that bathroom is really gross. Second off, one needs to prove it hasn’t been remodeled in, I don’t know, twenty years! Third of all, ya did it, ya know ya did it, we all know ya did it, so shut up about it! And finally, Andrew be like: I might have raped a bunch of teens (don’t forget, my pedo-adjacent, pedo-apologist king brother married one), but AT LEAST I DIDN’T LEAVE THE FAMILY! (Bish, ya need to!)

    • Mustang Sally says:

      My very first thought: It has been 22 years. It is likely the bathroom has been remodeled. We can only be happy that his new PR term is so inept that it will finally sink his battleship and he will be forced into exile.

    • Lara (the other) says:

      Even if it hasn’t been remodeled, and it looks like a design from the eighties, there is definitivly enough space in the tub. I had (consensual ) sex in this kind of tub more than once.

      • J says:

        My thoughts exactly. I’ve made due in smaller tubs haha

      • RoyalBlue says:

        She doesn’t even have to prove they had sex in the tub, just that he could lick her toes while she was in the tub. She said they went to bedroom to have sex.

        “he started licking my toes, between my toes, the arches of my feet” before they went into the bedroom and had sex

      • Emily_C says:

        Yep, same. With a guy who was over 6 feet tall, and I’m 5’8.

      • Debbie says:

        No, no, no! You people are wrong to say that they could have had sex in that tub. Don’t you know that people who want sex are easily swayed by things like their surroundings? I mean, it’s not like they couldn’t be facing the same way in the tub or that Andrew could have stretched out while her legs were resting on his chest, or she was in a more cramped position than he was. If you believe that two people can be intimate in a tub, next you’ll believe that people can have sex in airplane bathrooms or equally small spaces. I, for one, think that there’s not even enough room the hallway above for Andrew and Ghislaine Maxwell to be standing together with Virginia in that picture.

    • Virginia says:

      Also this is photo shows two adult men not a grown man and a thin female so it’s apples to oranges. And even then the picture shows plenty of room, what idiots!

      • BothSidesNow says:

        Not only that they haven’t even considered how people are capable of having sex in the tub…..

        tiny minds with tiny thoughts and follow through. 🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️

      • DouchesOfCambridge says:

        i thought that picture was a joke. i laughed. Who’s the moron who ok’dthat picture to go on front page? and the model with papers on their faces, I mean, there’s clowning, but this is another new level. I have no words, and cant believe we see this in 2023 in “modern” britain…

    • Mary Pester says:

      I’m so, so sorry. As a Brit I can only apologise for the depth this once respected paper has sunk to to protect the paedo prince. It has TRIED to portray her as a liar, but has fallen at the first hurdle when it hadn’t even bothered to READ what she ACTUALLY SAID. It’s disgusting that this paper can even try to defend this scum. Because scum is exactly what Andrew is, and was this joke of a picture all lined up to print just after Maxwell gave her sickening interview to that other scum Kyle. The man who was kicked off television for years for fake lie detector tests and the suicide of a man he humiliated. Andrew gave a nauseating interview, Andrew (as part of his agreement said he would speak out and SUPPORT victims of sexual abuse and trafficking. Well this proves that NONE of the British Royal family have morals or can keep their word. It also proves what Harry has said all along about the Palace and the press

      • BothSidesNow says:

        @ Mary Pester, you have no reason to apologize for this rag or the other Britshidmedia rags as well. Unfortunately you that have differing views are treated as criminals and face abuse/threats which usually end with your views being silenced and/ or eliminated. You have no reason to apologize and I have read that many, many people, such as yourself, are disgusted as well.

        My sympathies go out to you and everyone else that is and have been appalled by the media pond scum that they call “journalism”. And as you said this further cements Harry’s claim that the BRF and the press are in bed with each other. It also cements the prolific narrative that there are a set of rules for some members of the BRF than others, ie Harry, Meghan, Sarah, etc

        Feel proud that you don’t buy into their delusional tactics and hope that many people will wake up to this narrative and finally speak out for it to cease.

      • Emily_C says:

        Thank you for saying this. Can you get together with a lot of other disgusted Brits and do something about it? I know you’ll get arrested if you protest the monarchy (which is more reason to do it in this American’s book), but will marches against the tabloids get you arrested? You’ve gotta do something over there, because this stuff, along with Brexit which was largely caused by your horrid press, is destroying your country’s credibility in the world.

      • Mary Pester says:

        Bothsidesnow, thank you for that, but someone has to apologise. Yes, your right, there are more and more people who think like me but we are definitely being silenced. I tried an experiment two weeks ago, myself and 9 friends who feel the same as me, all emailed the Daily Mirror saying in our own words that the continued trolling of Harry and Megan had to stop. That they are supposed to be a newspaper reporting on the many, many issues facing this country at the moment, from the cost of living crisis to the corruption in government. Not demonising Harry and Megan whilst holding the Royal family up as omnipotent beings, guess what, not ONE of those 10 letters were printed. I despair

      • Emily_C says:

        @Mary Pester Trying to go through official channels to criticize official channels won’t ever work. Hence, taking to the streets. I’m not saying it will change the way your press operates, but if the world could see that this crap is not supported by the public there, it would help.

      • Debbie says:

        Actually, I’d like to know whether the BM and their talking heads on tv have been saying “Why won’t Andrew shut up and stop talking” the same way they did about the Sussexes. Have they also blamed Andrew’s shenanigans for killing their aged queen?

  2. Snuffles says:

    Do they actually think this proves anything? Thousands, probably millions of people have had sex in airplane bathrooms. Finding a position in said tub wouldn’t be difficult at all.

    • Mia4s says:

      The Telegraph (apart from being absolute garbage) is old school conservative. So they probably think that you can only have sex in the missionary position, lying on a bed, under the covers. 🙄

      If the background of this all was not so deadly serious this would just be pathetic to a hilarious degree.

      • BeanieBean says:

        Agree with both of you. This ‘proof’ is laughably stupid and at the same time, utterly despicable.

    • VoominVava says:

      Exactly! And I can’t believe they had the gall to use the photo of Virginia where she was with Andrew and crop him out. Sheesh.

  3. kirk says:

    Was kinda expecting to see the picture of Epstein and Ghislaine at Balmoral. Or the one of Kevin Spacey and Ghislaine throne-sitting at BP. Either way, this should disabuse people of believing The Telegraph (all formats) is a cut above or more serious than the rest of the abysmal British press.

    • BothSidesNow says:

      Bingo!!!! We have a winner!!!

      And who was the idiot that staged this set up?? Are they actually immensely idiotic to think that these staged photos will clear Pedrew of his crimes????

      My gawd, their stupidity knows no bounds and proves how zero respect for their readers to actually beloved this staged declaration of truth. Though given how the Britshidmedia operate, I think it’s safe to assume that this train of thought is what they actually believe.

      # AbolishTheMonarchy

      • kirk says:

        “Ian Maxwell, 66, an elder brother of the shamed British socialite” staged the photos “and planned to use it as part of her defence during her sex trafficking trial.” Don’t know if this is the same brother who arranged for her protection by former British military at her NH hideaway where she was arrested. Ian Maxwell may not have known about the weight of the evidence against her, but he might have known about Giuffre since Ghislaine settled separately with Giuffre ~5 years before arrest.

        Why staged photos are being hauled out now and presented as Telegraph front page news is a whole different problem. Are British news consumers gullible enough to believe this exonerates Andrew? Will see.

      • BothSidesNow says:

        @ kirk, well I guess we can count him as dumb and ridiculous along with the Telegraph.

        As for your other insights with regards to her brother now I am intrigued as to how much he knows and how willing he is to go. Is Ian willing to go out on a limb to defend his defenseless sister all while supplying and supporting this ridiculous article to play with the Telegraph? Ian Maxwell may have been an accomplice this entire time and was able to escape scot-free. I wonder why he has chosen to grab this bone to take it so far.

      • The Recluse says:

        Is this the same brother who sounds so weirdly like Charles when he talks?

    • Tacky says:

      My god, this crosses every possible line.

      • BothSidesNow says:

        All while revolting at the same time. They should have at least had the decency that their paper would induce vomiting, nausea and/or remove any form of “frolicking” in the bathtub for all consenting adults for possibly forever…..

      • Louise says:

        I don’t think it has to do with court in any way, shape, or form. I think it has to do with the expiry of Guiffre’s gag order. I think they’re trying to sow some doubt (however they can) in the court of public opinion. It’s telling that this pathetic effort is how they’re trying to do it.

  4. FancyPants says:

    Am I missing something? How does the photo of two adults in the tub prove that two adults don’t fit in the tub? Anyway, if people want to engage in “that kind of behavior” they will find a way to make it happen in places like closets and airplane lavatories, that tub is plenty of space. [Ms. Giuffre was there against her will.]

    • M18isyss18 says:

      This is disgusting and vile work from The Telegraph. As for Epstein BFF …it’s not enough to live in absolute privilege and luxury on palace grounds with no work expectations for the rest of your life. No. You want to try to publicly smear the child YOU raped and then spend millions of someone else’s money to fight a case YOU settled all so you can prance around and feel self important in medals and robes. The Windsors are absolute trash.

      • samipup says:

        ** No. You want to try to publicly smear the child YOU raped and then spend millions of someone else’s money to fight a case YOU settled all so you can prance around and feel self important in medals and robes.**
        THIS!

      • Anna says:

        👏🏼All👏🏼of👏🏼this👏🏼

      • Caribbean says:

        THIS.
        They did not have to try to defend Andrew for years, they just put false and derogatory stories of Meghan and that took care of that. Now they are in a position to ‘Defend’ Andrew, they don’t know how or what to do

    • Slush says:

      “Am I missing something?”

      Yes, that they are all stone cold morons. 😉

    • Erin says:

      Yeah, I legit thought this was satire at first. I thought they were making fun of Andrew, like “Here’s the picture that proves his innocence, har har har.” They cannot be serious with this! The person on the left doesn’t look like a 17 year old and the photos on the faces?? I can’t believe this isn’t a joke. There is still plenty of room in there to do whatever and you can make anything look deceptively smaller or larger than it is depending on angles and camera. Plus did she not say that they went to the bedroom? She didn’t say they had sex in the tub. I mean, this is worse than the I can’t sweat excuse.

  5. Brassy Rebel says:

    Nothing is accomplished by this narrative that Virginia Giuffre is a liar except to potentially drive her lawyers back into court to argue (with receipts) that the Sweaty Nonce is in violation of the court approved settlement agreement of a year ago. And they can argue that he is using the now well known royal family playbook: never smear someone yourself; use others to do your dirty work. I’m a little surprised this hasn’t happened yet, but I sure hope it does.

    • Jay says:

      Not to mention that Andrew’s so-called defenders have now just RE-ENACTED his crime on the front pages of a national newspaper! That is some straight up Perry Mason sh!t, like defense attorney 101: never let your client ( or someone wearing a mask of your client’s face) re-enact the crime.

      It’s so dumb – if they just wanted to show the size of the tub, why not just show two people in the tub? Why did they decide on the masks? Anybody who has seen this photo will simply remember it as “the one that shows Andrew and Virginia in the tub”. That’s why re-enactments can be controversial, because they stick in people’s minds as the truth! And these fools did this voluntarily, nobody was asking for this photo.

      I hope this backfires on Andrew even worse than his interview; he deserves it.

      • sunny says:

        I am disgusted by the media running this story- it shows the British press are absolute trash and carrying water for the royal but can we focus on how garbage Andrew’s PR team is for a minute? This is a debacle in like 5 ways, including: 1. Reminding the public of the accusations 2. literally putting Andrew’s face on it 3. Attacking assault survivors 4. Making claims that any idiot with half a brain can debate.

        I really should not laugh because this is disgusting but these people are just so dumb.

  6. Zazzoo says:

    Bbbut the photo proves that two grown ass adult men with middle aged spread easily fit into the tub, with space for one to stretch out. Can’t KC3 do something about Andrew? Tower of London, perhaps?

    • Feeshalori says:

      And not for nothing, but Virginia was petite and slim at 17. She’d be swimming in that tub. When I saw this yesterday, I actually thought it was an April Fool’s joke. Just when you thought the British tabloids couldn’t sink any further, they surprise you every day. And the thought processes of Andrew and his cronies are so reprehensible. I hope Virginia and her legal team come after them all with guns blazing.

      • Feeshalori says:

        Legal guns blazing to clarify.

      • Zazzoo says:

        MTE! I felt weird commenting on her body so I implied it with pointing out these are two not small men fitting comfortably into the tub.

      • nutella toast says:

        …and I doubt anyone was worrying about Virginia’s comfort. It’s not like it was a romantic encounter. There’s plenty of room for rape…not “sex”. I just…I don’t even know what to say. There’s something extra horrifying about “wearing” her face.

  7. Nicki says:

    That dumb photo just proved the opposite — more than ample room for sex. These people are idiots.

  8. Zapp Brannigan says:

    WTF,The Telegraph should be absolutely ashamed of printing this. What next, a headline claiming “Jimmy Saville, just misunderstood”.

    • Tessa says:

      Ian Maxwell should just keep quiet with the so called evidence. Charles will still have Andrew front and center at the coronation

    • Chrissy says:

      ….. Along with a picture of Jimmy Saville having dinner with with The King at BP.

  9. Polly says:

    These people have absolutely lost their minds.

  10. MsIam says:

    But the article doesn’t say they had s-x in the tub, it says, well you can read what it says. There is clearly enough room for what Virginia says happened. I think Andrew’s dumb @ss just got played again if he thinks this disproves what Virginia said. I hope a giant rock falls on him and we never see or hear from him again.

    • Sunday says:

      Thank you for pointing that out, it’s been driving me absolutely mad – she doesn’t say they had sex in the bath! It’s literally right there!

      IDK, I’m glad this image is being lambasted on twitter for the disgusting display of r*pe apologia that it is, but it’s also disheartening to think that it’s maybe working? Like, all of the discussion has been about whether or not two people could have sex in the bath (which this wasn’t, it was one person assaulting another). It’s turned the whole thing into a farce, a spectacle instead of the devastating crime that it was. The truth of what Virginia actually said happened has been completely lost, even though it’s right there in print below that stomach-turning picture.

  11. Eurydice says:

    Lol, if Andrew keeps going like this, he’ll be turning over his $10M “war chest” to Virginia pretty soon.

    The Telegraph story is interestingly worded, with “clears Duke” in quotation marks. The whole thing reads as an underhanded way to remind the readers of what scum Andrew and Maxwell are.

    • Concern Fae says:

      This. Reinforces Andrew’s stupidity. He got his big inheritance, which he’s supposed to live on (with Fergie) for the rest of his life. He’s blowing it all on this sort of nonsense.

      To understand how the right wing media grift works, it’s important to study con men, because that is what they are. You want your mark to believe total bullshit, because that means they are under your control. It also cuts them off from the sane people in their life, which is also good from your perspective. It makes it hard for them to ever admit they were wrong to friends and family, so they are likely to just stay on your side.

      Something like this is a mix of rabid true believers, people ashamed but can’t lose their job, and those laughing all the way to the bank, astonished they are getting away with it.

    • Jaded says:

      That’s what I thought too @Eurydice…what this says, in a thinly veiled way, is “how stupid do you think Andrew and the Maxwell family are that they’d pull a bone-headed stunt like this?” It’s a last-minute, desperate grasp at exonerating Andrew but it’s backfiring big time. Virginia probably has her lawyers drawing up a legal shot across the bow as we speak, and her book is going to drop some bombshells big enough to obliterate Andrew and a number of famous men who took part in the Epstein/Maxwell travesty.

    • Debbie says:

      Somehow, I doubt that they’re trying to mock Andrew because 1) It’s the British media and they always carry water for their royal family, and 2) they put a photo of a smiling Virginia to demonstrate how she would have acted in the bathtub scene (I think that’s an odd choice for a rape allegation). It’s clear that they just used an enlarged version of the famous hallway photo with Andrew next to Virginia and Ghislaine in the background. Now, why couldn’t they have used the photo of Andrew which was conveniently in that same photo as Virginia? Instead, they use a photo of Andrew looking somber. Why?

  12. Tessa says:

    I hope virginia g files another lawsuit and Sarah may have to sell the expensive property she brought.

  13. Tessa says:

    Did Andrew sell the chalet yet. Virginia can sue him again and maybe Sarah can sell the expensive residence to pay the suit.

  14. Amy Bee says:

    This is just embarrassing.

  15. Izzy says:

    FFS, people have sex in back seats with less room to move around than that stupid tub.

    • Harla A Brazen Hussy says:

      My first thought upon seeing this photo was “yep, I could totally have had sex in a tub that size. Not “comfortable” sex but it could be done”.

    • Jaded says:

      To prove this, I once did it in the front seat of a Volkswagen beetle. True story.

  16. Tessa says:

    Andrew should stay in his expensive property and keep quiet. Ian should stop enabling his sister with this pathetic nonsense

  17. Jay says:

    This was astounding – that any PR team would agree to a photo which actually *reinforces* the presence of their client at the scene of the crime with his victim, that they would have used the photo of Virginia which Andrew’s defenders have always claimed is a fake, and that any newspaper would agree to print something so vile.

    To the extent that the whole point is to try to discredit Virginia’s story, it doesn’t do that either: She clearly said that he sucked her toes (now there’s an image you want in the public’s mind) in the bath before moving to the bedroom. So all this has really done is refresh our memories with the sordid details ahead of Virginia’s book. And btw, I hope she sues the Telegraph, too. Why the hell are they carrying water for Maxwell???

    If this weren’t such a serious matter, Andrew’s ability to find every rake to step on would be funny. I’ll bet he still thinks it’s going great!

    • Eurydice says:

      The article says that Maxwell’s brother hasn’t had any personal dealings with Andrew or his legal team – maybe he has with Andrew’s PR team (supposing he actually has one at this point). To me, this reads as a slam against Andrew because it’s written to remind everyone of the allegations against him – like it’s reinforcing the story about Charles kicking Andrew out of BP. There’s something weird and fishy about this.

      • Jay says:

        That wording was very specific – maybe Ghislaine’s brother hasn’t had personal dealings with Andrew, but Ghislaine has. Or it’s handled by the PR team.

        If Andrew weren’t consistently hoisting himself on his own petard, I would agree that this is Charles trying to silence him forever, but Andrew truly IS this stupid and short-sighted.

        To the extent that Charles wants an excuse to banish his brother, he doesn’t have to do anything elaborate like plant stories – for people like Andrew, you just give him enough rope and then wait.

      • Eurydice says:

        @Jay – I’m not saying that Charles planted this story, just that it reinforces Andrew’s banishment. It may be that the banishment has made Andrew fair game for the media, I don’t know. Yes, Andrew is an idiot, but (presumably) the editors of the Telegraph are not. They’ve printed this ludicrous story, added all the gory details of Andrew’s behavior and put quotes around “clears Duke” to highlight that the photo obviously doesn’t. And if I were Charles, I wouldn’t be giving Andrew any rope – you never know what might be at the end of it.

    • Renae says:

      What’s with all the toe-sucking in this family? Fergie got booted years ago after pics of HER toes being sucked by some ‘financial advisor”.
      Please, oh please no pics of Charles doing an oral pedicure on Cans hooves.

      • Tigerlily says:

        @Renae I wondered that myself about all the toe sucking. I shudder at the mental of image of Chuck & Cams….eye bleach please!

      • windyriver says:

        It’s a pertinent detail. Since this is a game we know Fergie also likes, that Virginia specifically mentioned Andrew did this tells me she absolutely was around him at some point, and torpedoes any claims he makes to the contrary.

        Not to mention, if the gentleman in white above extended his delicate leg just a bit, it’s obvious how exactly what Virginia said happened in the tub, could happen. I guess him wearing the picture of Andrew, not Virginia, is supposed to throw us off the track? The stupidity of staging this picture and putting it out in public is mind boggling.

        As far as C&C – wasn’t the whole tampon discussion enough of a yuk factor? That was a SNL skit at the time, too. With Mick Jagger in a bit part. Hard to believe they were able to do that, compared to the way things are nowadays with RF coverage.

      • Mary Pester says:

        THIS ☝️PLUS please, please, please don’t put that picture of Charlie chinless and cowmilla in my head. I feel as if I need to scrub my brain YUK

      • Emily_C says:

        If it’s consensual, who cares? That’s not the point. The point is that this was sexual assault.

    • Eating Popcorn says:

      So, Andrew doesn’t violate the agreement because he gets Gigi’s family to do it… GROSS!!!!!

  18. Harper says:

    In addition to being an insane argument–plus Virginia only said it started in the tub and then they moved to the bedroom–those paper face masks are giving me Star Wars stormtrooper vibes.

  19. Harla A Brazen Hussy says:

    Actually Andrew didn’t “step down” until the press started investigating his dodgy business practices, his “friendships” with older, wealthy men and his continued use of his “job” as trade envoy to enrich not only himself but also those older, wealthier male friends.

  20. Kittenmom says:

    Nah! I refuse to believe this photo is anything but satire! From the ridiculous photos on their faces, to the fact that this clearly proves 2 people can fit in that tub in a way that would totally facilitate toe sucking 🤢 The fact that this is front page news!! What insane times we live in.

  21. Mimi says:

    For real! LOL Who is having “relations” from opposite ends of the tub? She would be up against his chest, so he can touch … other things. This proves nothing.

  22. Nerd says:

    First of all this photo is vile and disgusting especially knowing the context of what it is supposed to be used for. To think that there were people (meaning more than one person) who not only participated in creating this image but also sharing it in a paper is vomit inducing. I feel for any victims of this type of abuse seeing the lengths people are willing to go to defend such horrific people. Secondly, this photo proves the opposite of what they want to prove. Not only is there more than enough room for him to do the unthinkable to a teenage Virginia’s feet in the tub but there’s enough room to do more than what she says he did to her there. It is disturbing that we are looking at a traffickers mirrored bathroom where a child was abused. I’m so disgusted right now. I am always surprised that the UK media are always able to go beyond levels of evil that I would think should be humanly impossible.

  23. aquarius64 says:

    Gigi’s dumb brother put up this stupid stunt. Pro tip Ian: if you’re trying to have your sister’s sentence served out in the Uk, this will not wash ( no pun intended) in a US court as evidence.

    • BeanieBean says:

      That’s it right there. He says he had this photo ready for her lawyers to use in her trial, but they didn’t. You know why, Ian? Because it’s stupid, irrelevant, and does not ‘prove’ anything. But stupid Andrew & his stupid newspaper sycophants thought they’d use it now to somehow take back the signed settlement agreement, as though that were even possible.

  24. Sean says:

    Okay, okay I have to ask…is this the British version of Arrested Development?

    Because I feel like this is the literal definition of torpedoing your own defense.

    At this point, I have absolutely no idea how anyone can hold the British monarchy in a sense of reverence.

    • Mary Pester says:

      Sean, I’m a Brit and a veteran, BUT, no way in hell would I take up arms to defend this Palace of clowns. It’s becoming more and more of a disgrace every bloomin day. For christ sake, THIS on the same day that botox barbie launched her CHILDREN’S forum!! Mind you her “expert” advice was, “children up to the age of 5 need to be happy healthy and loved!!! I wondered if the paper would publish my reply to her stupid platitudes of” no sht Sherlock

  25. Jensa says:

    When this photo of the Telegraph front page started doing the rounds on Twitter, everyone’s first reaction was that it couldn’t possibly be real and had to be a joke. It’s just completely ludicrous.
    If this is the best Andrew and his team can do, then they’re even more stupid than I thought. (And I didn’t think that was possible).

  26. lemontwist says:

    GROSS. Like others have said, a recent pic of two middle aged dudes sitting in a tub doesn’t disprove anything. I kind of (?) can’t believe it’s an attempt at PR from PA’s team but maybe I’m being naive. It’s SO bad. Putting that image out there seems way more like the press f***ing with PA. It’s disgusting exploitation by the Telegraph either way.

    But THEN the article says:
    “Maxwell sought to defend her ‘dear friend’, the Duke, in a series of interviews from a Florida jail.”

    This is the stuff that makes me question where this press is coming from and what the intention is. To explicitly quote Epstein’s gal Friday, a convicted, jailed sex trafficker, claiming a friendship with PA after he (weakly) tried to dissociate from Epstein doesn’t make it seem like this is coming from PA’s camp.

    Screw all of them. I hope the next year sees Giuffre releasing a book to burn it all down.

    • Joan Holloway says:

      Agreed, it’s so incredibly bad that it seems unthinkable that PA would want this out there. But then I remember the NewsNight interview and the fact that before it aired, he genuinely thought it had gone well and he’d done a good job of clearing his name. Prince galaxy-brain may have honestly thought this too was a good idea 🥴

  27. Mrs. Smith says:

    The article says the only “activity” in the tub was that Andrew touched Virginia’s toes and feet (I’m too grossed out to repeat the details). They then went to the bedroom, so to me that implies there was no sex in the tub. Regardless, this PR play is so absurd and insulting. I hope Virginia’s lawyers sue him over this.

  28. one of the marys says:

    Are they pranking us? Are they pranking him? Anyway the realms and rulers he wants to do business with don’t care about this. He should save his money

  29. Ariel says:

    Who ever approved this at the paper should he fired immediately. It obviously proves nothing, except the paper isn’t journalism – it’s royal fab fiction. And pro sexual abuse of minors by the wealthy.

    How does anyone with a brain NOT know how bad this looks for the Maxwell family, the royals and the paper?

  30. ABritGuest says:

    Great way for the telegraph & it’s royal reporter Victoria ward to prove Harry’s point that they act as the PR arm of the palace.

    I did laugh at the ridiculousness of the photo but really it’s disgusting reporting & even putting Virginia pic on the person in the bath is beyond gross. Giving a front page to family of convicted trafficker to make ridiculous defence of a Prince who claims he didn’t meet Virginia. Just to discredit Virginia. And people wonder why people don’t report rape & sexual assault..

  31. Jais says:

    The Telegraph is trash.

  32. AnneL says:

    They put that picture on the front page?! That is beyond embarrassing. The Telegraph has really gotten in the dirty bath water with the Royals and there’s no washing that off.

    I feel gross just having looked at it.

  33. mellie says:

    The British media is NOT ok, they have completely lost it!

  34. HeyKay says:

    Geez. Zero humanity in this.
    Whoever OK’d this as the front page of a newspaper should be fired.

    The entire BRF is garbage and the press and others that continue to support their garbage behaviour should all be abolished. Down with the Monarchy.

    Andrew is out of his mind in a denial so heavy he can’t even see daylight.
    None of them can. The end of this lifestyle is careening towards them like a runaway freight train.

    That photo proves that 2 people fit into that tub with room to spare, ya idiots.
    The fact that the teenage female was forced to be there due to sex trafficking, makes every other detail irrelevant. And criminal. And vile.

  35. Mslove says:

    Nope. It doesn’t ‘clear the duke’ of his heinous crimes. It does highlight the fact that this family can and will get away with everything, with no real consequences.

    • Tessa says:

      They would be laughed out of the courtroom if Andrews attorney presented the bath photo as evidence and used it in closing statement.

  36. Tessa says:

    Charles keeps waffling about the sussexes going to the coronation yet does nothing to rein in Andrew and these gross headlines are allowed to continue

    • Mary Pester says:

      Tessa, it’s just got to stop. The media merry-go-round supporting the Royals is beyond belief, now as a British citizen born and bred, a veteran who served the Queen, I have one, no THREE favours to ask, one, please don’t think all brits support the sickening newspapers in this country. Two please don’t think we all support the disgusting disgrace that our monarchy has become, and THREE can someone who knows how to contact Megan get her to do a sit down interview with Virginia, maybe on her podcasts, and blow the bloody lot of them, press, Royals and all of their little sycophants OUT OF THE WATER

  37. SenseOfTheAbsurd says:

    Wow. You expect deranged misogynistic nonsense from the DT, but this takes the bloody biscuit.

  38. bisynaptic says:

    I hope Virginia makes more money off this.

  39. SIde Eye says:

    What the fresh hell?

  40. RoyalBlue says:

    Andrew’s lawyers are salivating at the thought of his war chest.

  41. SadieMae says:

    It’s certainly possible that in the intervening decades the original tub has been replaced, but…I would also call this a Victorian-style tub. It’s been built into a tiled surround that looks more modern, but it’s got that curled-over edge in front that says “old-fashioned bathtub” to me. Maybe some modern tubs in the UK are like that? Here in the US they aren’t (unless you buy a replica of the old-fashioned kind, of course). So I don’t see how this pic disproves Giuffre’s description of the tub. (And as many have pointed out…it’s plenty big enough for what Giuffre says happened in it. More than big enough. The entire premise of the Telegraph article is ridiculous.)

  42. peaceandlove says:

    LOL! i saw that picture and thought that it was a parody. what in the world? how did they think this proves anything? wow…rich white people will do anything to cover up all sorts of criminal and shady crap. just wow…

  43. Emily_C says:

    I told my husband he had to see this to see how awful they were, and proceeded to rant about it to him, and he said “So you want me to look at disgusting idiots! Yay!” (Sarcastically.) He’s looking though — he started following this stuff because he found the way Meghan was treated appalling, same as me.

  44. Rnot says:

    This is so bizarre I don’t even know how to parse it. Cui bono? I can’t tell. Are they trying to throw doubt on Virginia or Andrew’s version of events with this article? ‘Cause what we see is that two adults do fit in that tub with plenty of space for the activities she described, and then we read that it proves the opposite. Why this? Why now? Who is the target here? Is there a target or is it just totally amoral clickbait? Is this a dead cat strategy to distract from the latest government scandal? This is a strange card for anyone to play at this time.

  45. Mrs.Krabapple says:

    They should lose whatever “press” credentials they have (if any). This is advocating, not reporting.

  46. Bread and Circuses says:

    She said they went to the bedroom for sex. That tub is plenty big enough for what she described happening in it: Prince Pedo licking her feet.

    tl;dr: This disproves nothing.

  47. JW says:

    They have taken the *face* of an underage rape victim, blown it up, put it next to the *face* of her rapist, re-enacted her rape, photographed it, and the Daily Telegraph has put it on their front page. The Daily Telegraph should burn for this.

  48. robin samuels says:

    Jeffrey Epstein lived in a multi-million dollar townhouse on the other side of Central Park, which most likely has several above-average bathrooms with massive tubs and walk-in showers. So now we know why Fergiie prefers toe-sucking.
    I can’t believe they would post such a photo on the front page of a newspaper, believing it exonerates Andrew. Maybe the UN needs to go into the UK and rescue the people because they are under siege by a corrupt Parliament, Murdoch/Rothmere media, and an old monarchy. Forget about the evil King; God, please save the people.

  49. QuiteContrary says:

    The Telegraph isn’t a tabloid— it’s supposed to be a respectable newspaper. But this is the trashiest, stupidest thing I’ve ever seen in a newspaper and yes, the editors responsible should be fired.

    This proves nothing except that sexual assault victims cannot trust the British newspapers to tell their stories, and rape culture thrives in England.

    • sparrow says:

      Yes, exactly. The Telegraph used to hold its head up as a one-nation old-style Tory paper. Lately, it’s taken a dive. Two things happened: rampant Brexit opinion pieces and a race to dumb down its Telegraph 2 section. This is a horrible picture. It proves nothing; only that her family are a desperate bunch of proven and historic liars. Also, and I hate to say this given the serious context, but as a tall woman with tall ex partners, that bath is still sizeable enough to have sex in.

  50. GOBO says:

    This has got to backfire spectacularly. It’s absolutely vile.

  51. Serena says:

    The british press should burn down along with the monarchy.

    This ‘article’, or piece of trash as I’d call it, not only proves they’re a bunch of imbeciles but that the RF family will go to any lenght to protect themselves at the expense of who they have abused.

    To put that photo, no matter how dumb it looked, that recreated a rape scene with the survivor and the offender is some the vilest, most despicable sht I’ve ever seen.

    Hope Virginia sues them all to hell.