The High Court has agreed to intervene in Prince Andrew’s with a sex assault civil lawsuit and ensure he is served in accordance with international law. 

Lawyers for the Duke of York’s accuser, Virginia Giuffre, asked the British courts to notify him about the case, which had its first hearing in New York this week. 

The High Court initially rejected the request, saying the duke had not been properly served, before issuing an update following further correspondence from Ms Giuffre’s team. 

It said in a statement: ‘The lawyers acting for Ms Giuffre have now provided further information to the High Court, and the High Court has accepted the request for service under the Hague Service Convention. 

‘The legal process has not yet been served but the High Court will now take steps to serve under the convention unless service is arranged by agreement between the parties.’ 

It will now begin trying to locate the duke, who is reportedly staying with the Queen at Balmoral, or a legal representative, to officially tell him about the case – known as service of proceedings. 

Solicitor advocate Nick Goldstone, head of dispute resolution at international law firm Ince, said: ‘Andrew’s lawyers need to make themselves known, officially no one is “on the record” for Andrew in England with regards to these proceedings. 

‘It may well be that the court might be invited to instruct a High Court sheriff to attend and deal with service.’ 

Ms Giuffre is suing the Queen’s son for allegedly sexually assaulting her when she was a teenager.  

She is seeking unspecified damages, but there is speculation the sum could be in the millions of dollars. 

The duke does not have to engage with civil proceedings in a foreign country, but this week has seen the first legal skirmishes in a process which could take more than 18 months before a trial is finally heard. 

Mr Goldstone said if Andrew is served with official notification about Ms Giuffre’s civil action he will have to make the choice whether to submit to the jurisdiction of the New York court. 

He said: ‘If he’s served, he then has to decide whether or not he’s going to respond to the proceedings, whether or not he’s going to defend the proceedings and fight them – or he can ignore them if he wants to. Nobody is compelled to engage in civil litigation if they don’t want to. 

‘And what would happen if he is served and he chooses not to respond or engage in the proceedings, and he just effectively ignores them? Then the New York court can say “well, he’s been served, he’s choosing not to engage, let’s proceed without him”.’ 

He added a default ruling is likely to be made in favour of Ms Giuffre in this instance. 

Ms Giuffre claims she was trafficked by Andrew’s former friend and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein to have sex with the duke, when she was aged 17 and a minor under US law. 

Andrew has vehemently denied all the allegations. 

The question about whether he had been properly notified was a major topic at the pre-trial hearing at the US district court for the southern district of New York. 

The duke’s new American lawyer, Andrew Brettler, said his team contested ‘the validity of service to date’, adding he has not been properly served under either UK or international law. 

He also argued that Ms Giuffre has previously entered a ‘settlement agreement’ that would nullify her current lawsuit, which he dismissed as ‘baseless, unviable and potentially unlawful’. 

David Boies, representing Ms Giuffre, said that the complaint had been ‘delivered to the last known address of the defendant’, adding that the documents had also been sent ‘by Royal Mail’. 

He was given one week to find an alternative means of service by New York federal judge Lewis Kaplan, who warned Mr Brettler he was making the case ‘more complicated’ than it needs to be. 

Judge Kaplan scheduled a further hearing for October 13. 

Andrew has stepped back from public duties amid the fallout from his relationship with Epstein. 

It came after a 2019 Newsnight interview which saw him attempt to draw a line under his relationship with Epstein, who died in prison two years ago, but it ended up being dubbed a ‘car crash’. 

During the programme he denied claims that he slept with Ms Giuffre on three separate occasions, saying: ‘I can absolutely categorically tell you it never happened. 

‘I have no recollection of ever meeting this lady, none whatsoever.’ 

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