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Prince Andrew has officially recognised that he has been served with a lawsuit by Virginia Giuffre, clearing a hurdle that had stalled legal proceedings for several weeks.
The acknowledgment was confirmed in a joint agreement signed by a lawyer for the Duke of York, approved by a Manhattan federal judge and entered into the public court record today.
The court papers said Andrew had been challenging acceptance of the lawsuit until lawyers spoke by phone on September 21. An agreement was signed three days later, according to the order signed by Judge Lewis A. Kaplan.
MailOnline had previously reported that Andrew's legal team accepted that he had been correctly served with legal papers by his sex accuser. This has now been entered in the official public record.
In the lawsuit, Virginia Giuffre claims Andrew abused her on multiple occasions in 2001 when she was under 18. His lawyer has called the allegations 'baseless.'
Ms Giuffre's lawyer, David Boies, had previously said he expected the prince's US lawyer, Andrew B Brettler, to apply for a 'reasonable' extension to respond to the complaint – and indicated they would likely agree to it.
The prince must now file responses to the lawsuit's claims by October 29.
A conference was scheduled for November 3.
Prince Andrew, pictured at Balmoral earlier this month, has officially recognised that he has been served with a lawsuit by
