The Duke of York has settled the US civil sexual assault case brought by Virginia Giuffre although he has continued to deny the allegations

The Loose Women clashed on Thursday’s show during a fiery opening discussion over Prince Andrew’s settlement of the US civil sexual assault case brought by Virginia Giuffre.

The Duke of York agreed to pay an undisclosed sum as part of the settlement – although it is reported to be £12 million – and accepted Ms Giuffre had suffered as a victim of abuse.

Prince Andrew made no admission of liability and has continued to deny the allegations.

On Thursday’s instalment of the ITV daytime show, the panellist discussed the out of court settlement and the studio became heated as the conversation devolved into Denise Welch, 63, and Carol McGiffin, 61, shouting at each other.

Host Kaye Adams, 59, posed the opening question to Carol, saying: “Do you think this has diminished trust in the Royal family?”

The panellists discussed Prince Andrew’s out of court settlement with Virginia Giuffre ( 
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ITV)
She replied: “Why do we have to trust them? They’re the Royal family. I just want them to be there. I don’t actually care what is going on with them, because the point is we do not know.”

She continued: “The speculation that surrounds the Royal family is rife. It always has been and they never apologise, they never explain, they never tell you anything, so you don’t know.

“You don’t know where the money’s coming from – I don’t care where it’s coming from, if it’s the public money or it’s any money. We don’t even know if it’s 12 million do we?”

Fellow panellist Denise cut in saying: “Do you think Andrew should be stripped of his titles? Are you bothered about that?”

Denise cut in saying: “Do you think Andrew should be stripped of his titles?” ( 
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ITV)
As the volume turned up between the panellists in the studio, Carol said: “Look, we still don’t know what happened.”

But Denise cut in to mention sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and the pair began to shout over one another as host Kaye tried to regain control of the conversation.

Denise exclaimed: “What I’m saying is Jeffrey Epstein has already been found guilty of child sex offences. Andrew went – that wasn’t a mistake. That was a journey he made.”

Kaye finally interjected, saying: “Hold on, he’s apologised for his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein. That is the extent of it. He has made a settlement and it has gone to Virginia Guiffre’s charity.”

As the volume turned up in the studio, Carol said: “Look, we still don’t know what happened.” ( 
Image:
ITV)
Denise then muttered off camera: “Good. Completely innocent then.”

Carol again weighed in to say: “There’s no day in court, so we’ll never know. Even if there had been, we would never have known anyway. It’s he says she says and it’s who you believe. Can we drop it now?”

Kaye concluded the heated conversation saying that the public demand “transparency” from the Royal family.

She said: “Let’s be realistic, the royal family, if we go back centuries – like every family – has had scandal running through it. Until a certain point in history they were able to employ the tactic of saying nothing and the press stood back.

“But now the press behaves very differently,” she then turned to her fellow panellists to say: “Have we got off to a good start there?”