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The Duke of York has not only lost royal status, but working on his defense against sexual-assault allegations as a private citizen is likely a "full-time job," a legal expert tells Insider.
Virginia Giuffre Roberts filed a lawsuit against Andrew in August, accusing him of sexually assaulting her in 2001, when she was 17. Giuffre alleges that Jeffrey Epstein forced her to have sex with Andrew in his New York mansion, in London, and on Epstein's private island in the US Virgin Islands.
A spokesperson for Buckingham Palace told Insider in 2019 that it is "emphatically denied that The Duke of York had any form of sexual contact or relationship with Virginia Roberts."
Buckingham Palace announced on Thursday that Prince Andrew will face the lawsuit as a "private citizen" and that his military titles and royal patronages would be removed. The duke will no longer use his HRH status, a royal source told Insider on Thursday.
When Andrew was a working royal, his time was split between representing the Queen at international and UK-based events and attending events for the royal patronages he supported, according to the royal website.
While the duke stepped back from public duties in 2019, he didn't lose his patronages until last week — meaning he was still able to support different organizations and charities in a private capacity. But now that has changed.
Prince Andrew likely spends most of his time at the Royal Lodge, his 31-room Georgian mansion in Windsor that he has resided in since 2003, The Times reports. His ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, is thought to reside in a different wing of the property, the publication adds.
Andrew has hosted various parties at the Royal Lodge through the years, and this year appears to be no different. Andrew and Ferguson hosted around a dozen family and friends for a shooting party on Friday, The Sun reports.
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But legal expert Amber Melville-Brown says that most of Andrew's time is likely spent meeting with lawyers rather than socializing.
"While Prince Andrew might have fewer formal responsibilities today than yesterday, I would expect him to be taking on this litigation as his full-time job," Melville-Brown, head of the media and reputation practice at the international law firm Withers, told Insider.
Melville-Brown has acted as a media lawyer and reputation advisor for numerous heads of state and high-net-worth families. She said that while clients such as Andrew are able to have as many visitors as they want, his time should be spent "in caffeine-fueled conferences with lawyers and reputation advisers strategizing on just how they are going to extricate him from the litigation, and the associated negative media noise."
Representatives for the Duke of York, and his attorney Andrew Brettler, did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
Andrew's youngest daughter, Princess Eugenie, was seen visiting him at the property on Monday, as the Daily Mail reports.
But Charles and Prince William were "instrumental" in the initial palace discussions about Andrew's removal from royal status, according to another Daily Mail report. And Prince Charles ignored a reporter's question about his brother during a walk in Aberdeenshire on Friday.
"Fergie and his daughters have remained loyal, behind closed doors," Nigel Cawthorne, author of "Prince Andrew: Epstein, Maxwell and the Palace," told Insider. "Otherwise he must be shunned by society. Who would want to be seen in his company now?"
