Prince Andrew ‘to dash from Balmoral to see pregnant Beatrice in hospital’
Prince Andrew is considering making a 500-mile dash from Balmoral to see pregnant eldest daughter Beatrice in hospital, reports claim.
The Duke of York has been holed up at the Queen’s Scottish 550-acre estate amid speculation he was trying to avoid being served papers by lawyers representing Virgina Giuffre.
The prince, 61, denies allegations he sexually assaulted Ms Giuffre when she was 17 and a minor under US law.
But a source at Balmoral told The Sun how ‘his daughter comes first’ and the prince will ‘want to be there for her’.
According to the newspaper, Princess Beatrice, 33, was admitted to hospital on Friday.
The Royal Family announced Prince Andrew’s second daughter was expecting her first child with husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, 38, in May this year.
‘He could end up staying on the estate and waiting for Beatrice to come to him once she’s given birth,’ the insider added.
‘But I’m sure he will want to go to her.’
Earlier this week Prince Andrew was scolded for playing ‘hide and seek’ at Balmoral in an apparent bid to hide from Ms Giuffre’s sexual assault claims.
His lawyers have argued that he has not been properly served legal documents outlining the allegations.
On Thursday night a US district judge ruled the papers could be served to Andrew’s lawyers in Los Angeles.
In a statement, Ms Giuffre’s lawyer Sigrid McCawley said: ‘We are grateful that the Court has granted alternative service on Prince Andrew. This moves the case forward.’
The duke’s legal team have previously dismissed the claims as ‘baseless’.
Ms Giuffre claims she was trafficked by billionaire convicted paedophile, Jeffrey Epstein, before being forced to have sex with the duke.
The lawsuit says Ms Giuffre endured ‘extreme emotional distress, humiliation, fear, psychological trauma, loss of dignity and self-esteem, and invasion of her privacy’.
She accuses Andrew of forcing her to have intercourse with him at the London home of Epstein’s alleged ‘madam’, Ghislaine Maxwell.
He is also alleged to have sexually abused her at Epstein’s Manhattan mansion and on his private island in the US Virgin Islands.
Maxwell denies helping to recruit and groom underage girls for Epstein to abuse.
Insiders have suggested Prince Andrew and ex-wife Sarah Ferguson are ‘closer than ever’ as they await the birth of their grandchild.
One source told Vanity Fair magazine’s Katie Nicholl: ‘They still love and care for each other a great deal and have been living together during the pandemic.
‘It has rekindled something and I can see a second wedding happening if it all goes Andrew’s way.’
However Fergie, also 61, reportedly told how she had no plans to remarry.
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