Prince Andrew will give evidence under oath next month as part of the civil sex assault case being brought against him, it has been confirmed.
“We agreed to voluntarily produce the duke for a deposition on 10 March,” a source close to him said.
Andrew, 61, has strenuously denied all allegations against him.
He will face what is known as a deposition in London, in what has been described as a neutral location.
The source said his accuser, Virginia Giuffre, has not yet committed to a date or location for her deposition, “despite repeated requests”, the PA news agency reported.
The Duke of York’s deposition – the process of taking sworn, out of court testimony – is expected to last two days and will be conducted by Ms Giuffre’s lawyers, David Boies and Sigrid McCawley, the Telegraph reported.
Andrew’s former assistant, Robert Olney, and Shukri Walker, who claims to have seen him in Tramp nightclub, are also due to give depositions, the newspaper added.
Ms Giuffre is suing the duke for damages, claiming she was trafficked by disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein to have sex with the royal when she was 17.
It is alleged to have happened at Ghislaine Maxwell’s London home in the early 2000s. Under US law, Ms Giuffre was a minor at the time.
The duke is also alleged to have sexually abused Ms Giuffre during a visit to Epstein’s private island, Little St James, and on a separate occasion at the financier’s New York mansion.
Mr Boies has spoken of “confronting” the Queen’s second son about his “denials and attempts to blame Ms Giuffre for her own abuse at his deposition and at trial”.
In 2010, Time magazine listed Mr Boies as one of the 100 most influential people in the world.
The trial is scheduled to take place between September and December.
The parties need to confirm by 28 July whether they wish to proceed to that stage.