The Metropolitan Police is looking into reports that Prince Andrew asked an officer to help with an attempted smear campaign against the woman who accused him of sexual assault.

Andrew reportedly tried to get his personal protection officer to dig up dirt for a smear campaign against Virginia Giuffre back in 2011, according to the Mail on Sunday.

The Met Police said it was “actively looking into the claims made”.

The prince – who gave up his Duke of York title on Friday – has been approached for comment.

Meanwhile, it has been reported Prince William is planning to take a “ruthless approach” towards Andrew when he is king. The Sunday Times suggests William will ban his uncle from “all aspects of royal life” because of the ongoing risk to the Royal Family‘s reputation after a series of damaging revelations.

A US lawyer has predicted the scandal engulfing the royal “is not going away” and more stories will “leak out”.

Gloria Allred, who represents many of the victims of the late Jeffrey Epstein, believes Andrew will not be “let off the hook” over his links to the convicted paedophile.

“This is not going away. Even though he’s no longer a duke, and Sarah Ferguson is no longer a duchess, it’s not going away,” she told Sky News.

Andrew relinquished his Duke of York title and remaining honours on Friday evening, after a series of fresh stories linked to the late Ms Giuffre, who was trafficked by Epstein. She died in April, aged 41, with her family saying she “lost her life to suicide”.

Andrew will retain the dukedom, which can only be removed by an Act of Parliament, but will not use it.

Asked whether the government had plans to legislate to remove Andrew’s titles, Energy Security Ed Miliband told Sky’s Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips programme that they would be “guided by the palace” and the Royal Family.

“I think it’s really important as a government minister that we allow the Royal Family to make its decisions on these questions,” he added.

“Prince Andrew has given up these titles by agreement with His Majesty the King and I think that’s, you know, that’s obviously the position.”

‘It’s not over’

Ms Giuffre alleged she was forced to have sex with Andrew when she was 17 – allegations he has always denied.

Her posthumous memoirs, which are released on Tuesday, claim Andrew insisted she sign a one-year gag order – to prevent details of her allegations tarnishing the late Queen’s platinum jubilee.

Read more:
Why Andrew hasn’t given up being a prince
Lingering dread over what else could still emerge

And earlier this week, emails emerged showing that Andrew remained in contact with Epstein, several months after he said he had stopped contact.

The former duke paid to settle a civil sexual assault case with Ms Giuffre in 2022, despite insisting he had never met her.

Ms Allred said: “The fact that Virginia is now deceased – may she rest in peace – doesn’t mean it’s over for Prince Andrew. It’s not over. More will come to leak out.”

Reports of attempted smear campaign

It has now been reported that Andrew passed Ms Giuffre’s date of birth and social security number to his taxpayer-funded bodyguard in 2011, asking him to investigate.

He is said to have emailed the late Queen’s then-deputy press secretary and told him of his request to his protection officer, and also suggested Ms Giuffre had a criminal record, the Mail on Sunday reported.

A Met Police spokesperson told Sky News: “We are aware of media reporting and are looking into the claims made.”

The prince’s alleged attempt, on which the Met officer is not said to have acted, came in 2011, hours before the publication of the famous photograph of Andrew with his arm around Ms Giuffre in London, which he has claimed was doctored.

The Mail on Sunday said it obtained the email from disclosures held by the US congress.

“It would also seem she has a criminal record in the states,” Andrew said to the former press secretary, according to one email published by the newspaper. “I have given her DoB and social security number for investigation with XXX the on duty PPO.”

Ms Giuffre’s family responded, the newspaper said, saying she did not have a criminal record.

Read more from Sky News:
How Prince Andrew allegations unfolded
Everything we know about titles decision
William and Camilla’s influential roles

In her book, titled Nobody’s Girl: A Memoir Of Surviving Abuse And Fighting For Justice, she wrote, according to The Telegraph: “As devastating as this interview was for Prince Andrew, for my legal team it was like an injection of jet fuel.

“Its contents would not only help us build an ironclad case against the prince but also open the door to potentially subpoenaing his ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, and their daughters, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie.”

Andrew, who remains a prince and continues to live in the Crown Estate property Royal Lodge, said on Friday that the “continued accusations about me distract from the work of His Majesty and the Royal Family”.

He insisted he was putting his “family and country first” and would stop using “my title or the honours which have been conferred upon me”.

Ms Allred told Sky News she felt Andrew’s statement on Friday, describing the scandal as a “distraction”, was an “insult” to Epstein’s victims.

“What it’s saying [the statement] is it’s continued bad PR for the monarchy,” she said.

“All right, I’m happy about this small consequence that he has to pay… no longer a duke, but look, he’s living a privileged life while many victims are still suffering from the harm that was done by many people involved with Jeffrey Epstein.”

Ms Giuffre’s family has urged the King to go further and take away Andrew’s prince title.

Even after Florida‘s late-season surge in 2024, Billy Napier needed a strong encore, while navigating another brutal schedule, to secure his long-term future as Gators coach.

After another slow start this season that featured losses to South Florida, LSU and Miami, Napier couldn’t dig himself out of the canyon this time. He was fired Sunday with a final record of 22-23 in Gainesville.

For the fifth time since Urban Meyer retired in December 2010, Florida is seeking a new head football coach. The job has its clear upsides — proximity to recruits, fan and financial support as well as the ability to compete for national championships — but the coaching churn in Gainesville is undeniable. Meyer won big there but only for a relatively short period. Florida had three straight AP top-6 finishes under Charley Pell and Galen Hall in the mid-1980s. Otherwise, Steve Spurrier is the only coach to build a sustainable winner with the Gators.

Florida gave Napier the necessary support to elevate the program, and made clear gains in recruiting. Coaches who have faced the Gators the past two seasons repeatedly praised the talent on the roster. But things never came together for long stretches under Napier, as Florida didn’t make the 12-team College Football Playoff last season and wasn’t going to this season.

Athletic director Scott Stricklin received a contract extension this summer and will be selecting his third football coach. How much power he truly has in the hire is a question looming over this search. Florida has yet to make the CFP, and really needs to get this one right. There will be no shortage of interest for one of the top jobs on the market.

Candidates | Transfers | Recruits

Five candidates for the job

Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin: He’s the closest thing to Spurrier — without all the championships, of course — in today’s college football: A brash, supremely confident coach whose gifts for playcalling and quarterback development are undeniable. Kiffin, 50, has started to win more notable games in the SEC, taking down Georgia, South Carolina and others last season. He’s 27-6 since the start of the 2023 season. While his biggest accomplishments have come as an assistant coach (he won national titles as a coordinator at USC and Alabama), he led Florida Atlantic to Conference USA titles in 2017 and 2019, and knows the state and the conference well. Kiffin has indicated he might stay at Ole Miss for the long haul — or at least the slightly longer haul — but Florida would be silly not to seriously gauge his interest level.

Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz: Kiffin should be Florida’s top target within the SEC, but Drinkwitz also merits close consideration. Like Spurrier, he’s an offense-minded coach who delivers the goods when behind a microphone and will bring a confident style of play to Gainesville. After a slow start in Columbia, Drinkwitz, 42, guided Missouri to a Cotton Bowl title and a No. 8 finish in 2023 and also has a 27-6 record since the start of the 2023 season. The Arkansas native could have Missouri positioned for its third straight winning season in SEC play. Drinkwitz likes Missouri, which has shown him a stronger commitment over time, but if he wants to win a national championship, he could seek a move to a program like Florida.

SMU coach Rhett Lashlee: After guiding the Mustangs to the CFP in their first season as an ACC member, Lashlee is one of the top coaching candidates out there. His next stop probably would bring him to the SEC, where he twice coached with Auburn alongside Gus Malzahn and served as the Tigers’ offensive coordinator from 2013 to 2016. Lashlee, 42, also would bring experience from within the state of Florida, as he served as Miami’s offensive coordinator in 2020 and 2021. He has won 11 games in each of the past two seasons at SMU.

Washington coach Jedd Fisch: Few coaches have hopscotched around the college and NFL map quite like Fisch, who at 49 has worked for seven NFL teams and six college squads since the 2002 season. He views Washington as more of a long-term play after reviving Arizona’s program with a 10-win season in 2023, but if there was a destination job that existed for Fisch, it would be Florida, his alma mater. He spent time as a student assistant and a graduate assistant with Spurrier and has worked in the state as an offensive coordinator for Miami and the Jacksonville Jaguars. Washington certainly doesn’t want to lose another talented coach so soon, but if Fisch has a big season, Florida could come calling. Fisch is 11-8 at Washington.

Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman: Every coaching search, especially one for a coveted job such as Florida’s, needs a shoot-your-shot candidate or two. Freeman seems very happy at Notre Dame, which has rewarded him financially and probably will continue to do so this offseason, especially if he returns to the CFP. Notre Dame certainly doesn’t want to lose a second consecutive coach to an SEC team, but Freeman, 39, is one of the hottest coaches on the market and would energize Florida with his on-field track record and his recruiting approach. The Dayton, Ohio, native has spent his entire playing and coaching career in two states — Ohio and Indiana — and would have to adjust to life in the SEC. But he has recruited nationally and shown he can win consistently, especially during last season’s playoff run. Florida would be foolish not to at least gauge his interest. — Adam Rittenberg

Five important players to retain

QB DJ Lagway: Can the next head coach keep Lagway in Gainesville? The sophomore QB has been extremely loyal to Napier and invested in building up this program with him. The retention of Lagway will likely be a major priority for whomever takes this job. Lagway has struggled this season, ranking last among SEC starters in QBR (56.7) and 15th in yards per attempt (6.82), and has dealt with injuries throughout his two seasons at Florida. He will still likely have an opportunity to be one of the highest-paid QBs in the country next year, regardless of how his sophomore season plays out.

If the Texas native wants to play closer to home, he’ll have options. Texas A&M tried hard to flip Lagway’s recruitment at the last minute after Mike Elko took over in December 2023. His father, Derek Lagway, played at Baylor in the late 1990s. Lagway will be entering his junior season and draft-eligible next year, so putting himself in the best position for his development and the NFL — whether that’s with a new regime at Florida or elsewhere — will undoubtedly influence this decision.

RB Jadan Baugh: As a freshman, Baugh emerged as the Gators’ leading rusher with 916 rushing yards and eight TDs on 5.4 yards per carry. Entering Week 8, Baugh ranked third among all FBS backs in forced missed tackles (47), according to ESPN Research, and more than 750 of his 1,284 career rushing yards have come after first contact. On Saturday, he rushed for a career-best 150 yards to help power the Gators’ win over Mississippi State. Baugh will have two more seasons of eligibility and is expected to receive significant SEC and national interest.

LB Myles Graham: Graham has moved into the starting lineup as a sophomore and leads Florida with 40 tackles, 3.5 TFLs and three pass breakups. The son of former Gators and NFL running back Earnest Graham came in as the fourth-ranked outside linebacker in the 2024 ESPN 300 and proved he was ready to play with a productive season in a reserve role, earning SEC All-Freshman recognition. It’ll probably be tough to pull him away from Gainesville given his family ties, but he is a talented playmaker.

WR Vernell Brown III: The true freshman wideout, ESPN’s No. 41 overall recruit for 2025, earned a starting role right away and has a team-high 32 catches for 463 yards through seven games. He’s the son and grandson of former Gators, so there’s a lot of loyalty there, but Brown will command major interest. You could put several more Gators wide receivers on this list, too, between Dallas Wilson, Eugene Wilson III and Aidan Mizell. All four will be seriously coveted if they explore transfers.

DT Caleb Banks: Banks turning down the NFL for one more season with the Gators was a huge deal for Napier and his staff. He’s one of ESPN’s top three defensive tackle prospects for the 2026 draft and will almost certainly go pro after this season, but Banks could return for one extra season if he needs a medical redshirt. The 6-foot-5, 330-pound senior missed the first two games because of a foot injury, reinjured it against LSU and is now expected to be out indefinitely. — Max Olson

Three key recruits

DE JaReylan McCoy, No. 9 in the ESPN 300: McCoy committed to the Gators over LSU and Texas in June, and the five-star edge rusher remains the top-ranked member of Florida’s 2026 class. McCoy and his family have spoken often about his comfort with the Gators, emphasizing that his pledge is tied as much, if not more, to the program as it is to Napier and his staff. Florida’s in-season decision to move on from Napier will surely test that resolve. McCoy spent a month committed to LSU earlier this year, and the Tigers have continued their efforts with him this fall, as have Ole Miss and Texas, among others.

QB Will Griffin, No. 69 in the ESPN 300: A Gainesville native whose family went to UF, Griffin has been committed to the Gators since June 2024, and his recruitment has been effectively shut down for more than a year. As things stand, there’s nothing to suggest Griffin will be on the move soon. But Napier’s departure at least cracks the door for any QB-needy program to check in on ESPN’s No. 6 pocket passer. If other elite commits begin spilling out of Florida’s class, figuring out how to keep Griffin in the fold will be imperative for the Gators.

RB Davian Groce, No. 36 overall: An August commit, Groce would represent the Gators’ highest-ranked running back signee since Kelvin Taylor in the 2013 cycle. Florida emerged late in Groce’s recruiting process to beat finalists Baylor, Houston and Oklahoma to ESPN’s No. 4 running back prospect. Those schools will likely circle back with Groce, whose Gators pledge looms especially large if fellow Florida running back Carsyn Baker — an early fall flip target of Auburn, Florida State and South Carolina — reopens his recruitment and heads elsewhere. — Eli Lederman

For the last few weeks, we’ve been running a sidebar survey about some of the factors that are convincing Electrek readers to add home solar power systems to their homes. After receiving over a thousand responses, here’s what you told us.

Our last survey focused on the loss of the 30% federal home solar tax credit that’s set to expire at the end of this year. One of the commenters expressed frustration with the question, saying that – tax credit or no – there were still plenty of other good reasons to go solar.

When our readers share their great ideas with us, we listen, and our most recent survey asked, “The federal solar tax credit ends after December 31st, but there are still plenty of reasons to go solar. What’s YOUR reason?”

Why YOU choose solar

Perhaps the most surprising result of this survey is that, with just 32.6% of the votes, “Lowering my monthly utility bills” wasn’t the biggest overall reason for people choosing to go solar. That result proving, if nothing else, that Electrek readers might be willing to spend a little more to do something positive for their environment and their community.

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“Energy independence and less reliance on the grid” was the top reason readers would add a solar system to their homes, with over 25% reporting that they were convinced about the value of solar because, “It’s the right thing to do, climate-wise.”

The final surprising result was that just 2.33% of respondents – just 25 Electrek readers – said that the improved resale value of home solar was your primary decision-driver.

Surprising, perhaps, not because of the solar panels themselves, but because it really is a buyers’ market these days, especially in sun-rich markets like Texas and Florida, which have flipped the script in recent months, posting huge inventory numbers and plunging real estate prices throughout the 2025 hurricane season.

“With a rate of 6.5% for a $1 million loan, the [monthly] payment is now significantly more than it was two years ago—$6,300 versus $4,200,” according to Ron Shuffield, the Miami-based president and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices EWM Realty. “When we have this conversation with our sellers, they say, ‘Well, why can’t I get what my neighbor got two or three years ago?’ And then we say, ‘Well, because your buyer does not have the same amount of money.’”

In that context, I’d expect sellers would at least try to differentiate their properties with features like home solar and battery energy storage. But, then again, what do I know? You guys know stuff – let us know what you make of this little look into the minds of your fellow readers and what conclusions you’d draw in the comments.

Original content from Electrek.

If you’re considering going solar, it’s always a good idea to get quotes from a few installers. To make sure you find a trusted, reliable solar installer near you that offers competitive pricing, check out EnergySage, a free service that makes it easy for you to go solar. It has hundreds of pre-vetted solar installers competing for your business, ensuring you get high-quality solutions and save 20-30% compared to going it alone. Plus, it’s free to use, and you won’t get sales calls until you select an installer and share your phone number with them. 

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