Is Prince Andrew's permanent withdrawal from public life now sealed?

Some of you may remember that last Saturday this column asked if there would ever be any way back to public life for Prince Andrew. We said that the British public's rejection of him seemed set in stone, their antipathy fixed and remorseless. The reason behind the question was the prince's appearance at the annual Easter Sunday service at Windsor Castle. One snap poll immediately afterwards showed fully 75% of people wish he'd stayed away and want him to keep out of sight, permanently.

The article was written some hours before the tragic news broke about the apparent , the woman who accused Andrew of sexually abusing and raping her on three separate occasions when she was 17. He has always denied the allegations, insisting he has no recollection of ever meeting her (despite an Instamatic colour snapshot showing him with his arm around her waist. has suggested it might be a fake, but not a shred of evidence for that has ever emerged).

Nevertheless, he paid Guiffre a whopping out-of-court settlement, estimated to be as high as $12m (£9m). Whatever the figure, one can only imagine the negotiating that must have gone on between both parties' lawyers.

What was Andrew's opening offer? What, more to the point, was Guiffre's opening demand? How did they settle on the final sum? What was Guiffre's leverage to walk away with a fortune? As I say, one can only imagine. And now she's dead, seemingly by her own hand. Dead, at 41.

A girlhood ruined and poisoned by billionaire pervert who raped and trafficked her for years. Like so many abused as youngsters, Virginia never got over it. Two of the four players in her story are dead - (by suicide in jail awaiting trial); and now Guiffre.

A third, Epstein's 'fixer', is serving a 20-year sentence for child trafficking. That leaves Andrew. No comment from him this week. Not a peep. Maybe Virginia Guiffre's death really does mark his permanent withdrawal from public life.

I wouldn't bet on it.