The cost of silence: What did Prince Andrew pay to avoid facing a sexual assault trial?

But this week, the once obstinate royal has surprisingly agreed to settle the civil lawsuit out of court. 

A suit filed in the US last year accused the Duke of York of assaulting the then 17-year-old Ms Giuffre after she was trafficked to him by billionaire predator Jeffrey Epstein. 

Prince Andrew proclaimed his innocence from the beginning – including a bizarre and now-infamous interview with the BBC where the Prince denied ever meeting Ms Giuffre, despite a widely-shared photograph depicting the two of them together – but the settlement will see him avoid a trial that would have potentially dragged the monarchy through the mud. 

So what sparked the stunning about-face?

And who is really footing the bill for the no admission settlement, rumoured to be worth over $20 million?

Just hours before the historic deal was agreed upon, 60 Minutes spoke exclusively to the man who brokered it: Ms Giuffre's lawyer, David Boies.

David gives an exclusive insight into this historic settlement to 60 Minutes reporter Tara Brown. 

"I always thought we would get here," he said. 

"We've said from the beginning that there would have to be vindication of Virginia." 

This Sunday, David reveals what his client demanded from her alleged abuser in order to keep him out of the courtroom.

"There have been attacks on Virginia for bringing the lawsuit," he says.

"I think those are attacks that have been motivated by people who are trying to escape liability."

But although Prince Andrew remains innocent in the eyes of the law, he will still have to face the court of public opinion.

And since he remains part of the Royal family, Britons want to know if they're the ones paying for his silence.

Sunday on 60 Minutes, inside the deal that made Prince Andrew pay.