Nobody can envy Prince Andrew in his current predicament. He is accused anecdotally in a legal case to which is is not party of having sex with an under age girl who remains anonymous. Others who have been accused by her deny the claims. Her age at the time was seventeen. In the UK the legal age of consent for consensual sex is sixteen. In the US, where these incidents are said to have occurred, the Federal age of consent is eighteen, but the law in each state varies from sixteen to eighteen. The girl claims that the sex was not consensual but forced upon her, not by the Prince, but by his former friend, who is the defendant in the action.
The Palace was right to issue a denial as this is not the kind of story to fade away, not because the public much care, but because the media love it. The fact is however, Prince Andrew is no longer in the main stream of a modernised and more streamlined royal structure. One could add that he and his ex-wife have long been on the more controversial and daring wing of the Windsor family. Perhaps that will be the element which causes the story to lose traction before long. It is also irrelevant to ordinary citizens, many of whom are far more concerned about maxing out their credit card over the Christmas spending season.