Prince Andrew continued hiding from process servers behind the walls of his mother’s palatial Scottish estate of Balmoral on Tuesday, rather than visiting his new granddaughter, his daughter Beatrice’s child who arrived into the world Saturday.
Andrew’s cowardly decision to hide behind the technicality of service looked increasingly futile, however, as U.S. attorney David Boies’ firm served Andrew using a variety of apparently valid methods, including depositing papers with his U.S. lawyer.
Reuters reported Tuesday that Virginia Roberts Giuffre’s lawyers filed notice that her suit, which accuses Andrew of raping her three times, had been successfully delivered to his Los Angeles lawyer Andrew Brettler via email and messenger service.
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Reuters says that if Andrew fails to respond to the suit in 21 days he could face a default judgment.
Boies Schiller Flexner also shared a picture of an envelope addressed to Andrew at his home Royal Lodge being slipped into a U.K. mailbox.
The judge in the case, Lewis Kaplan, told Andrew’s lawyer in a conference call last week that he had no doubt the Duke of York would be properly served in due course and cautioned him against wasting time on technicalities.
The message, however, does not appear to have got through to Andrew, who appears to be sticking to the increasingly absurd position of attempting to hide from official notification that the court case is happening.
The Daily Mail’s society columnist Richard Kay writes today that Andrew “is showing considerable resilience” and intends to continue with the strategy for the time being. Kay adds that Andrew “remains convinced that the inconsistencies in the Virginia Roberts account will tell in the end.”
A source tells Kay: “He has, in effect, been in lockdown ever since the Newsnight interview, so far longer than anyone else in the country, but he is coping.”
Andrew’s apparent determination to remain in glorious isolation behind his mother’s skirts and castle walls comes despite growing public anger at his strategy of evading the case—and the birth this weekend of a new granddaughter.
Princess Beatrice gave birth on Saturday night, it was announced Monday.
The Sun quoted a royal source as saying: “Andrew has made it quite clear that he wasn’t leaving Balmoral. It would appear the advice to him was to stay in hiding and miss the whole thing.”
Andrew’s ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, is reported to have met her new grandchild over the weekend. A friend of Sarah’s told the Mail: “She’s perfect and Sarah is absolutely smitten.”
The baby is 11th in line to the throne. Her name has not yet been released.
Andrew, 61, has consistently denied Giuffre’s claims and said he has no recollection of even meeting her despite a widely circulated photograph of him with his arm around her midriff in Ghislaine Maxwell’s London flat.
Even the usually voluble British prime minister, Boris Johnson, who is on an official visit to America, appeared to be abnormally short of an opinion when it comes to the fate of Prince Andrew.
Asked on the Today show by Savannah Guthrie whether Andrew should cooperate with U.S. prosecutors, Johnson replied: “One of the great freedoms I have as prime minister is that I’m basically precluded from commenting on matters affecting members of the royal family, and I wouldn’t dream of doing so.”
