They claimed Ms Giuffre had profited for years from her association with Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted sex offender, and was willing to “milk the publicity” for all she could with “increasingly salacious and inconsistent accounts”.

David Boies, for Ms Giuffre, claimed the Duke had only “dared” to make such claims in a court filing as it “insulated” him from a libel lawsuit.

In a 35-page response lodged with the New York court overnight, he accused the Duke of abusing the legal system by using his motion to dismiss the case as a “press release to attack Ms Giuffre in the media”.

The latest documents allege that Prince Andrew sexually abused Ms Giuffre on a number of occasions when she was under 18, including at Epstein’s New York mansion, where he touched her while Ghislaine Maxwell forced her and another victim to sit on his lap, and then forced Ms Giuffre to engage in sex acts with him.

Mr Boies, who claims Epstein kept at least 12 contact numbers for the Duke in his “black book”, adds: “Especially considering the power and influence that Prince Andrew holds, he cannot contend that such conduct is not extreme and outrageous.”

He alleges that Ms Giuffre did not consent to engaging in any sexual activity with Prince Andrew but feared she would be harmed, and even killed, if she disobeyed Epstein, Maxwell and Prince Andrew.

“During each incident, Prince Andrew knew that the plaintiff was a victim of sex trafficking, and intended to compel her into submission to gratify his own sexual desires,” Mr Boies adds.

The documents suggest that Prince Andrew manipulated “age and power imbalances”, and was one of the many powerful connections Epstein used to intimidate Ms Giuffre and keep her compliant.

They also claim the Duke abused other victims in front of Ms Giuffre, causing her distress.

The allegation is understood to refer to an incident in 2001 when another of Epstein’s victims, Johnana Sjoberg, 21, claims she was groped by the Duke in New York after someone suggested they pose for a photograph on a sofa with a Spitting Image puppet of the Duke.