Virginia Giuffre’s lawyer has criticised Prince Andrew’s legal team for requesting her mental health records, saying people “don’t misremember sexual abuse by a prince of England”.

Andrew has been accused of “victim blaming” and “gaslighting” following the request, which includes confidential notes from her counselling sessions.

Ms Giuffre claims she was trafficked by Jeffrey Epstein, Andrew’s former friend, to have sex with the duke and is suing him in a US civil court.

Andrew – who was stripped of his military titles last week – has always vehemently denied the allegations.

The duke’s legal team want to question Ms Giuffre’s psychologist, Dr Judith Lightfoot, about her “alleged emotional and psychological harm and damages”, including inspecting prescriptions and notes from their sessions.

They also want to quiz her on the “theory of false memories” and ask about Ms Giuffre’s “alleged childhood trauma and abuse”.

Ms Giuffre’s lawyer, David Boies, hit out at the request, telling the Daily Mail: “This is exactly what [Ghislaine] Maxwell tried. It didn’t end well. People may misremember a lot of things, but they don’t misremember sexual abuse by a prince of England.

Prince Andrew accused of ‘victim blaming’ over demand for Virginia Giuffre’s mental health records

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“In addition, Prince Andrew needs to say that all the other people who saw them together also have ‘false memories’.”

A source close to the duke told Sky News his lawyers’ request was legitimate.

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“Ms Giuffre put her mental health at issue by suing for emotional distress damages,” they said.

“The duke’s legal team are perfectly entitled to test her claims, determine her damages, if any, and see what she told her therapist or not.”

A lawyer specialising in cases involving violence against women criticised the request.

Dr Charlotte Proudman, a barrister and Cambridge academic, said it appeared Andrew was trying to use Ms Giuffre’s medical records to discredit her.

“It’s nothing more than victim blaming and gaslighting,” she told Sky News.

“Looking through her intimate, personal records when she would have told that person that information in the strictest confidence.

“For that to be used, manipulated and twisted against her is likely to be harmful and extremely damaging, and probably will be traumatising.

“It’s another form of abuse but this time through the court process.”

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Dr Proudman said she hoped that Ms Giuffre opposed the request. “It’s a really low tactic,” she added. “It’s the lowest of the low.”

The latest turn in the case comes after a judge rejected the prince’s attempt to get the lawsuit thrown out. A civil trial is now planned for later this year.

Why judge rejected Andrew’s bid to have lawsuit thrown out

Ms Giuffre’s lawyers have sought witness accounts from Andrew’s former assistant, Robert Olney, and a woman called Shukri Walker, who claims to have seen the royal “with a young girl” in London’s Tramp nightclub.

Ms Walker allegedly saw the royal “with a young girl around the time that (Ms Giuffre) contends Prince Andrew abused her in London after visiting Tramp Nightclub”, court documents say.

Ghislaine Maxwell – who recruited girls for Jeffrey Epstein to abuse – will be sentenced at the end of June.

Her defence team is pushing for a retrial after a juror admitted he told other jurors he was sexually abused as a child and used his experiences to persuade others to convict Maxwell.

Epstein was found dead in jail in August 2019.

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