Piers Morgan: 'Prince Andrew is finished'

In a column for The Sun, Piers Morgan made it very clear what he thought of the disgraced Duke's decision to settle the Virginia Giuffre lawsuit, calling him a "coward". Photo / Getty Images

Most of the world was stunned this morning when it was announced that Prince Andrew had agreed to pay a settlement to Virginia Giuffre in order to end the civil suit against him. None were more surprised, or more vocal about it, than controversial British TV personality Piers Morgan.

In a column for The Sun, Morgan made it very clear what he thought of the disgraced Duke's decision to settle the suit, calling him a "coward", among other things.

The news of the settlement came just three weeks after Prince Andrew made a stern statement that he would not settle and instead "demanded" a trial by jury to clear his name.

Making it clear that he felt the royal had "caved", Morgan opined that giving into a settlement revealed all of Prince Andrew's protestations of innocence to be a "sham".

Morgan espoused that "by paying a massive cheque to avoid a showdown in court, he's confirmed himself to be a snivelling little coward whose denials and demands weren't worth the paper they were written on." Morgan refers to Andrew's continuous denial of all claims, including never having met Giuffre and having no knowledge of Epstein and Maxwell's crimes.

Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell are alleged to have sex trafficked young women to wealthy aquaintances, and Prince Andrew socialised with them often. Photo / Getty Images

While Prince Andrew's reputation has taken a huge hit from the lawsuit and everything that led up to it, Morgan feels that by settling the royal has "destroyed" whatever was left of it.

Going so far as to say that Prince Andrew's public statements to the court at the time of settlement made him want to "puke", Morgan notes that at no point did the Duke admit culpability.

"Of course, there's no admission of guilt about the allegations against him, which is something Andrew's millions have protected him from having to test in court," wrote Morgan.

He does understand why the ninth in line to the British throne would opt to settle, writes Morgan, as the highly skilled legal team he was up against "would have eaten him alive".

Listing just a few of the sensational stories that have broken about Prince Andrew in the last week - including a massage therapist who told the Sun that the royal was her "creepiest" client and "a constant sex pest" - Morgan made it clear that there was no way back for the Duke. He simply stated: "Andrew's finished."