Prince Andrew will “turn and fight” the sex abuse allegations against him, latest reports claim.
The claims are said to mark a “significant change” in the royal’s legal strategy.
The Duke of York, 61, is being sued by Virginia Giuffre – formerly Virginia Roberts – over alleged sex abuse.
She claims Prince Andrew sexually abused her on three separate occasions when she was 17.
The prince has denied the claims, alleged to have taken place in London, New York and an island in the Caribbean belonging to Jeffrey Epstein.
Prince Andrew latest: What has changed?
Previous reports claimed that Andrew felt he could “brush off” the allegations against him.
However, Andrew’s lawyers finally acknowledged on Friday (September 24) that legal papers have been served.
Read more: The Queen may strip Prince Andrew of his HRH title, royal author predicts
It followed several weeks of attempts by the royal’s legal team to block Mrs Giuffre’s lawsuit rather than defend against it.
Andrew now has until October 29 to respond. But the Mail on Sunday claims his legal strategy has changed “dramatically”.
What are the claims about Andrew’s legal strategy?
The tabloid quotes a source “with knowledge of the proceedings” as indicating Andrew will “turn and fight”.
They are reported to have said: “The decision to bring in high-profile [US lawyer] Andrew Brettler to fight the civil case marks a significant turning point in approach.
The US team will be looking to robustly engage and challenge the claim.
“The US team will be looking to robustly engage and challenge the claims from Mrs Giuffre in a bid to provide the duke with a platform to finally clear his name.
“They will be looking to examine and dismantle the claims one by one.”
Virginia Giuffre ‘agrees to hand over document’
Elsewhere, The Sun reports Mrs Giuffre’s team will provide Andrew’s lawyers with a 2009 “release” document.
Her lawyer dismissed any notion it may contain a clause to exempt him from fault in her claims.
Read more: The Queen ‘wont overrule Prince Charles’ plan to keep Prince Andrew away from duties,’ claims expert
David Boies said they believed the release is “irrelevant to the case against Prince Andrew”.
However, he added: “Now that service has been accepted and the case is proceeding to a determination on the merits, we believe that counsel for Prince Andrew have a right to review the release and to make whatever arguments they believe appropriate based on it.”
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