Prince Andrew's legal team advises him to remain calm amid new lawsuit
The first court hearing is scheduled for Sept. 13
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Prince Andrew is "cheerful and relaxed" and being advised to "keep calm and carry on" over the bombshell lawsuit accusing him of sexually assaulting a teenage girl, according to a report.
"His legal team always expected this and have prepared," a friend of the 61-year-old royal told The Sun of the lawsuit filed last week by longtime accuser Virginia Roberts Giuffre.
"They advised the Duke to keep calm and carry on and he is taking their advice," the friend has insisted, saying he "has no intention" of changing course and trying to publicly address the accusations again.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Photo from 2001 that was included in court files shows Prince Andrew with his arm around the waist of 17-year-old Virginia Giuffre who says Jeffrey Epstein paid her to have sex with the prince. Andrew has denied the charges. In the background is Epstein's girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell. (U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals)
Neither Andrew nor his legal team have addressed the lawsuit, the friend said.
And the royal – who famously insisted a medical condition proved he could not have been "sweating all over" Giuffre, as she had claimed – is certainly not perspiring over the legal threat, either, the pal claimed.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"He has been cheerful and relaxed at Balmoral," the friend said of the Scottish estate where the prince is staying with his mother, British monarch Queen Elizabeth II.
His unlikely claim about sweating was made during a widely ridiculed interview with the BBC that ultimately got him booted from royal duties.
JEFFREY EPSTEIN'S EMPLOYEE MAY TESTIFY AGAINST PRINCE ANDREW IN SEXUAL ASSAULT LAWSUIT
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The disaster of his attempts to explain his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein as well as denying to even know Giuffre – whom he was photographed hugging when she was 17 – played a key role in deciding not to again try to speak out on the allegations, the pal said.
"His lawyers saw what happened with the Newsnight interview and think it’s best he says as little as possible," the friend said, adding that Andrew will only "respond if required to by law."
"The legal process could go on for years, but that’s not his fault," the pal told the UK paper. A first court hearing has been set for Sept. 13.
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Giuffre has long claimed to have been forced by Epstein and his accused madam, Andrew’s socialite pal Ghislaine Maxwell, to have sex with the prince three times, in Maxwell’s recently sold London home as well as Epstein’s New York mansion and private island.
This story first appeared in the New York Post
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Andrew and Buckingham Palace have previously vehemently denied her allegations, with the prince even questioning the validity of the now-notorious photo of them together because he’s not a hugger.