INTERNATIONAL: The woman who accuses Britain’s Prince Andrew of rape has until close of business on Monday, New York time, to ask a court to change the way she can legally serve papers. Virginia Giuffre’s lawyers have been trying for weeks to serve the papers on the British prince. Under US law, a defendant must be served actual papers of a case so that they have been notified of the charges against them, but this is no ordinary defendant. He’s Queen Elizabeth II’s third child and has not been seen in public for months. Physcially handing him a file of papers isn’t something people can just do.

The papers were originally handed to a police officer guarding Prince Andrew’s home near Windsor Castle. The New York court and the prince’s legal team said that wasn’t good enough. The papers were then sent to the prince’s California-based lawyer, and while the New York court said that was sufficient, the prince’s legal team disagree. They have until this Friday to appeal that ruling, and are also reportedly planning an appeal against the case itself.

They want it thrown out, because a key witness in the case is dead and the civil suit was filed only years after his death. That man is convicted pedophile, Jeffrey Epstein – who committed suicide in his prison cell. He was once a good friend of Prince Andrew’s. Virginia Guiffre claims it was Epstein who set her up for sex with the Prince numerous times when she was 17 years old. She’s now 38.

Prince Andrew, who is also known as the Duke of York, has repeatedly denied Giuffre's accusations. His US-based lawyer told a court last week that the case is a "baseless, nonviable and potentially unlawful lawsuit." The next few days will tell if this case will even go ahead.

^{PHOTO: FILE OF BRITAIN'S PRINCE ANDREW}