‘Brazen’ Prince Andrew reportedly welcomed a shooting party to Balmoral at the weekend – hours after accuser Virginia Giuffre’s lawyers claimed to have served legal papers on him.  

The Duke of York, 61, is said to have invited guests including the Crown Prince of Bahrain to the gathering.   

He bolted to the Queen’s Scottish estate last week amid speculation he was trying to avoid being served the papers by US prosecutors.  

Prince Andrew vehemently denies allegations he sexually assaulted Ms Giuffre when she was 17 and a minor under US law.  

She is suing the duke over claims she was trafficked by his former friend and disgraced billionaire paedophile, Jeffrey Epstein, and forced to have sex with him.

The Prince apparently ‘sought refuge’ at Balmoral, where the Queen, 95, is taking a break after a tumultuous year including the death of husband Prince Philip.  

But royal aides were reportedly unimpressed at how he is ‘carrying on like nothing has happened’ and ‘as if he hasn’t got a care in the world’.  

‘This is so brazen it is unbelievable,’ a source told The Sun. 

‘It has been bad enough that he appears to have been seeking refuge at Balmoral, where the Queen is trying to have quiet time after a tough year, but to host a shooting party…shows disrespect to the monarchy.  

‘And it is also tone deaf as if he does not care about what is going on with the legal case.’  

Legal representatives for Ms Giuffre, who is now known by her married name, Roberts, say they have made ‘multiple’ attempts to issue court papers on Andrew and his lawyers at Windsor – but his security turned them away.  

A US judge will decide whether the papers were properly delivered at a hearing today – but neither Andrew or his lawyers are expected to take part.  

Judge Lewis Kaplan of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York will hold the first pretrial conference in the case via a phone conference on Monday. 

The judge will ask Ms Giuffre’s team to outline their efforts to serve the duke with the legal documents.  

According to a document filed in a New York court, legal counsel said a civil lawsuit was handed to a Metropolitan Police officer on duty at the main gates of Royal Lodge in Windsor – where Prince Andrew lives with ex-wife Sarah Ferguson – on August 27 at 9.30am.    

Prosecutors insist the papers have been served in accordance with the law.  

But Blackfords law firm, which represents the prince ‘in certain UK matters’, has questioned whether the papers were properly served.  

And they have suggested Ms Giuffre’s claim might not be viable.  

Ms Giuffre’s lawyer, David Boies, wrote in court documents that it would be ‘impossible’ for the duke to be unaware of the lawsuit.  

Although a substantive decision will not be made today, the hearing will make proceedings clearer, Mr Boies added.  

The duke was forced to step back from public life in the aftermath of the Epstein scandal.  

His retreat also came after a ‘car crash’ 2019 Newsnight interview in which he tried to draw a line under his relationship with Epstein, who died in prison two years ago.  

He is said to have been going ‘stir crazy’ after spending weeks housebound at his Windsor residence.  

Prince Andrew and Fergie, also 61, were pictured in a black Range Rover making the almost 500-mile journey to Balmoral from Windsor last week.  

Buckingham Palace has declined to comment on the allegations.  

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