Prince Andrew accepts he has been served in US sex case

Britain’s Prince Andrew has accepted that he has been served legal papers during a sexual abuse lawsuit brought against him within the united states, a court filing showed Friday.

Attorneys for the Duke of York and his accuser Virginia Guiffre have agreed that the notification was effective from September 21, according to the filing with the Southern District of new York.

Queen Elizabeth II’s second son has until October 29 to reply to the lawsuit, and a hearing earlier scheduled for October 13 has been canceled, the joint stipulation added.

Lawyers for the duke had previously argued that legal papers within the case, in which Giuffre is suing for damages, weren’t properly served.

Earlier this month, Giuffre successfully applied to the supreme court of England and Wales for it to formally contact him about the case in new york.

The court later told lawyers for the 61-year-old duke that any challenge to their ruling must be made by September 24.

Giuffre says the royal sexually assaulted her over 20 years ago when she was 17 and a minor under US state law.

Andrew has been not been criminally charged and has repeatedly and strenuously denied the allegations.

Giuffre, 38, sued Andrew last month, alleging he sexually abused her at London home of socialite Ghislaine Maxwell.

She also said he assaulted her at the new york home of disgraced US financier Jeffrey Epstein, also as at Epstein’s private island within the US Virgin Islands.

Guiffre alleges Epstein, who killed himself while awaiting trial on child sex trafficking charges in 2019, lent her out for sex together with his wealthy and powerful associates.

Andrew has rarely been seen in public since he was forced to quit the royal frontline in 2019 for failing to distance himself from Epstein.

Maxwell is due to continue trial in new york on November 29 on charges that she recruited underage girls for Epstein to abuse. She has pleaded not guilty.