The Royal Family have expressed concerns over how Prince Andrew has has handled allegations of sex abuse, according to reports.

Both Prince Charles and his son William have reportedly shared doubts over the Duke of York’s failure to respond to a US lawsuit filed by Virginia Giuffre this week.

Andrew is reportedly locked in crisis talks with his mother, the Queen, after arriving at the  private Scottish retreat of Balmoral Castle on Wednesday.

Ms Giuffre’s lawyers filed the civil suit seeking unspecified damages at a federal court in New York.

The court documents claim she was “lent out for sexual purposes” by convicted sex offender Epstein including while she was still a minor under US law.

Andrew is named as the only defendant in the 15-page suit, brought under New York state’s Child Victims Act, though Epstein and his former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell are mentioned frequently throughout.

Ms Giuffre’s lawsuit stated: “In this country no person, whether president or prince, is above the law, and no person, no matter how powerless or vulnerable, can be deprived of the law’s protection.

“Twenty years ago Prince Andrew’s wealth, power, position, and connections enabled him to abuse a frightened, vulnerable child with no one there to protect her. It is long past the time for him to be held to account.”

The allegations say she was sexually abused by Andrew when she was 17 and that he knew she was the teenage victim of sex trafficking.

Andrew has vehemently denied the allegations in the past, and a spokesman for the duke said there was “no comment” when she was asked to respond to Ms Giuffre’s legal action.

Prince Charles and Prince William have doubts

The Mail reports that both Charles and Prince William have expressed concern over the way the allegations have been handled by Andrew.

A royal insider told the newspaper: "The family find themselves in an extraordinarily difficult and sensitive situation given the nature of the allegations.

"They are limited in what they can say publicly and now that the Duke of York is no longer a working royal they are actually rather limited in what control they can exert over the situation privately."

The Times reports how Charles can see no way back into public life for his brother following the allegations.

A source told the newspaper: "This will be unwelcome reputational damage to the institution.

"He [Charles] has long ago concluded that it is probably an unsolvable problem."

‘No memory’

In his Newsnight interview with the BBC’s Emily Maitlis, Andrew denied claims that he slept with Ms Giuffre on three separate occasions, saying: “I can absolutely categorically tell you it never happened. I have no recollection of ever meeting this lady, none whatsoever.”

The duke also said he has no memory of a well-known photograph of him with his arm around Ms Giuffre’s waist at Maxwell’s house, and has questioned whether it was his own hand in the image.