On the move again, Andrew? Duke of York goes for ride around the Windsor estate… after finally ending cat and mouse game with Virginia Roberts’ lawyers
- Andrew went for a ride around Windsor after ending cat and mouse game with Virginia Giuffre’s lawyers
- Duke of York, 61, had spent three weeks at Balmoral with his mother the Queen and his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson
- He was accused of trying to avoid having papers notifying him about sex case delivered to Windsor mansion
- The royal has officially recognised the sex assault lawsuit served to him by Ms Giuffre, formerly Roberts
- Ms Giuffre claims the royal abused her on multiple occasions in 2001 when she was a minor under US law
- Andrew has always denied any wrongdoing and his lawyer has called her allegations ‘baseless’
Prince Andrew went for a ride around the Windsor estate today after finally ending his ‘cat and mouse’ game with Virginia Giuffre’s lawyers as the legal row over whether he had sex with one of paedophile Jeffrey Epstein’s young slaves continues.
The Duke of York, 61, had spent three weeks at Balmoral with his mother the Queen and his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson, allegedly to avoid having papers notifying him about the bombshell sex case delivered to his 30-room mansion at Royal Lodge in Windsor Great Park.
He was pictured returning to Windsor at the end of last month to meet his first grandchild some twelve days after Princess Beatrice gave birth – and days after he officially recognised the sex assault lawsuit served to him by Ms Giuffre, formerly Roberts.
Ms Giuffre claims she was forced to have sex with the royal on three occasions – in London, Manhattan and the US Virgin Islands – when she was a minor under US law. Andrew has always denied any wrongdoing and his lawyer has called her allegations ‘baseless’.
Prince Andrew went for a ride around the Windsor estate today after finally ending his ‘cat and mouse’ game with Virginia Giuffre’s lawyers
The Duke of York, 61, had spent three weeks at Balmoral with his mother the Queen and his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson
Prince Andrew returns to riding at Windsor Castle after spending three weeks at Balmoral
He was pictured returning to Windsor at the end of last month to meet his first grandchild some twelve days after Princess Beatrice gave birth
Pictured: The Duke of York with Virginia Roberts, then 17, and Ghislaine Maxwell in London
The acknowledgment was confirmed in a joint agreement signed by a lawyer for the duke, approved by a Manhattan federal judge and entered into the public court record.
The court papers said Andrew had been challenging acceptance of the lawsuit until lawyers spoke by phone on September 21. An agreement was signed three days later, according to the order signed by Judge Lewis A Kaplan.
MailOnline had previously reported that Andrew’s legal team accepted that he had been correctly served with legal papers by his sex accuser. This has now been entered in the official public record.
Ms Giuffre’s lawyer, David Boies, had previously said he expected the prince’s US lawyer, Andrew B Brettler, to apply for a ‘reasonable’ extension to respond to the complaint – and indicated they would likely agree to it.
The prince must now file responses to the lawsuit’s claims by October 29. A conference has been scheduled for November 3.
Delivering a lawsuit to a defendant is usually a routine matter but can be more complicated when a defendant resides outside the United States. A judge must be satisfied that a defendant has been properly notified of the allegations and has a reasonable period of time to respond to them.
Lawyers for Giuffre had told the judge that they’d delivered the lawsuit to Andrew in numerous ways, though never directly into his hands.
Prince Andrew walking with Jeffrey Epstein in Central Park, New York City in 2011 after the friends left Epstein’s home in Manhattan
Virginia Roberts (pictured) claims she was forced to have sex with Andrew on three occasions when she was just 17 – under the age of consent in the US. He denies the allegations
The court papers said Andrew had been challenging acceptance of the lawsuit until lawyers spoke by phone on September 21. An agreement was signed three days later, according to the order signed by Judge Lewis A. Kaplan
At one point, Britain’s high court accepted a request from Giuffre’s lawyers to formally contact Andrew about the lawsuit.
Los Angeles attorney Andrew Brettler, who signed the papers on Andrew’s behalf acknowledging the prince was aware of the lawsuit, had argued at a hearing that Ms Giuffre’s claim was ‘baseless, nonviable and potentially unlawful.’
In late 2019, Andrew told the BBC ‘Newsnight’ program that he never had sex with Giuffre, saying, ‘It didn’t happen.’
Brettler has said that Andrew cannot be sued because an earlier lawsuit in the United States that was settled ‘absolves our client from any and all liability.’ That 2009 settlement document, however, remains sealed.
Epstein was found dead in his cell at a Manhattan federal jail in August 2019 while he awaited a sex trafficking trial. The death was ruled to be suicide.
Ms Giuffre is seeking unspecified damages, but there is speculation the sum could be in the millions of dollars. Court documents show that lawyers for both sides spoke on September 21 and the time for the duke to respond was extended.
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