Prince Andrew has been served with a lawsuit in the United States accusing him of sexually abusing a teenage girl, according to court documents.
Per BBC News, the lawsuit was filed last month by Virginia Roberts Giuffre, now 38, one of Jeffrey Epstein's accusers. Prince Andrew has vehemently denied all accusations against him.
She claims the Duke of York sexually abused her in the early 2000s at Epstein's mansion in New York City, when she was just 17 years old, per The Sun.
Court documents unsealed Friday, September 10, show that a process server delivered the lawsuit to a police officer on August 27 at the Royal Lodge in Windsor, England, where Prince Andrew resides.
According to The Sun, the process server said in the documents that he originally tried to serve Prince Andrew on August 26, but was told that security staff "had been instructed not to allow anyone attending there for the purpose of serving court process onto the grounds of the property."
Giuffre’s lawyer, David Boies, told The Telegraph about the process and why the royal will receive papers in person.
"We present him with a copy of the complaint in a formal way," he explained. "Because he is a foreign citizen, we have to do this under the Hague Convention."
The process server returned the next day and left the documents with a police officer, who promised to forward them to Prince Andrew's legal team.
The process server said in the documents he asked whether he could meet with Prince Andrew personally to deliver the papers, but "was told that this was not possible."
He also asked about Prince Andrew's whereabouts, but the police officer declined to answer, per The Sun.
Giuffre's lawsuit alleged that she was recruited into Eptein's sex-trafficking ring by his longtime associate, Ghislaine Maxwell - who is currently behind bars awaiting trial.
Giuffre has alleged that she was repeatedly sexually abused by Epstein and others between 2000 and 2002, including by Prince Andrew on three occasions: once in New York City, once in London at Maxwell's home, and once on Epstein's private island, known as Little St. James, in the US Virgin Islands.
The Duke of York has repeatedly denied the allegations made against him, and said he doesn't recall ever having known her.
