UNDER-fire Prince Andrew will face a two-day grilling at a “neutral” location when Virginia Giuffre’s lawyers fly in from the US, it has been reported.
The exact day that the Duke of York will face his sex accuser’s legal team has now been revealed, with the royal set to face embarrassing questions about his personal life.
Ms Giuffre is suing the prince in New York in a civil case for alleged sexual assault and battery.
She claims she was trafficked as a teenager to the Queen‘s favourite son through disgraced late financier Jeffrey Epstein and convicted sex offender Ghislaine Maxwell.
Andrew will face a two-day grilling by Giuffre’s lawyers on March 10 at a “neutral” location in London, The Telegraph reports.
The Duke has strenuously denied the claims made against him that he had sexual encounters with the then-17-year-old Giuffre at Epstein’s homes in New York and the Caribbean, as well as at Maxwell’s house in London when the infamous photo of him with his arm around the teenager was allegedly taken.
Andrew will be questioned by ace lawyers David Boies and Sigrid McCawley before they interview a woman who alleges she saw the prince with Ms Giuffre at London’s Tramp nightclub in 2001, the same night as the notorious photo.
His former royal aide Robert Ashton Olney will also be questioned by Boies, 80, who has a fearsome reputation as the “greatest deposition-taker” in modern US justice.
Boies has said he looks forward to looking the Duke in the eye.
For his part, Andrew is reportedly being carefully prepared by his UK-based legal team over fears of a repeat of his car-crash 2019 interview with BBC Newsnight’s Emily Maitlis.
During the interview, the prince made a number of memorable claims, most notably, that he can’t sweat due to an overdose of adrenaline that he had during the Falklands War, and that on the night he is alleged to have been with Giuffre in London, he was at Pizza Express in Woking, Surrey.
It has previously been reported that Andrew’s deposition will involve detailed questioning on both of these points.
Last month, a request from Giuffre’s lawyers asked for any proof of his trip to Pizza Express, as well as “all documents concerning your alleged medical condition of anhidrosis, hypohidrosis, or… your inability to sweat”.
The Duke is set to be asked carefully about his movements around the time of the three alleged assaults in 2001.
In his filing with the US District Court in Manhattan, Andrew, 61, admitted meeting Epstein in or around 1999 but denied Giuffre’s claim of sexual misconduct.
He is also facing difficult questions about his links to Maxwell, who last year was convicted of luring underage girls to be abused by Epstein.
Giuffre, 38, could be allowed to conduct her deposition via video feed due to travel difficulties as a result of the pandemic.
On Saturday, a source close to the prince complained that his alleged victim still hasn’t confirmed any details of her own deposition.
“We agreed to voluntarily produce the Duke for a deposition on March 10,” they told The Celeb Report Online.
“Despite repeated requests, Ms Giuffre still hasn’t committed to a date or location for her deposition.”
Last week, Boies confirmed he wouldn’t depose Andrew’s daughters Beatrice and Eugenie, his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson, or the Queen.
Andrew’s demand for a trial by jury has allegedly put him “on a collision course with the palace,” a source claimed last month.
