Virginia Giuffre, the woman who accused Prince Andrew of sexually assaulting her when she was 17, has been admitted to hospital after a "serious accident", according to her spokeswoman. Ms Giuffre, 41, who now lives in Australia, said on Instagram that doctors had given her "four days to live" after her car was hit by a school bus.

Her spokeswoman, Dini von Mueffling, said: "Virginia has been in a serious accident and is receiving medical care in the hospital. She greatly appreciates the support and well wishes people are sending." No details were given about where or when the collision took place.

Here, the Express looks at who the woman is and the accusations she has levelled against the prince - claims he has repeatedly and vehemently denied.

Ms Giuffre made headlines this week after she claimed she has got just "four days to live" following an accident with a school bus. She says the accident has made her car feel like "a tin can" and resulted in her suffering from "kidney renal failure".

In the post, which was accompanied by a photo of the 41-year-old covered in bruises all over her face, she said that it had been "the worst start to a new year".

She said: "I'm ready to go, just not until I see my babies one last time."

In a previous post, on March 22, she made another post featuring photos of her children, saying she was missing them. Ms Giuffre is reported to have separated from her husband.

She added: "But you know what they say about wishes. S**T in one hand and wish in the other & I guarantee it’s still going to be s**t at the end of the day."

The 41-year-old has been living near Perth in Western Australia and posted a picture on Instagram from the city on March 2.

While the date of the car crash was not disclosed by Ms Giuffre nor her spokeswoman, Western Australia Police said they received one report of a "minor crash" between a school bus and a car in Neergabby, about 12 miles north of Perth, on March 24.

A spokesperson said: "The collision was reported by the bus driver the following day. There were no reported injuries as a result of the crash."

A spokesperson for the East Metropolitan Health Service, which runs Royal Perth Hospital, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) that Ms Giuffre was not at any of their facilities.

A Western Australia Public Transport Authority spokesperson also told the ABC they were unaware of any such bus crashes.

Virginia Giuffre, previously known as Virginia Roberts (her maiden name), is one of the most prominent accusers of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and also a campaigner for victims of sex trafficking.

She brought a defamation case against Epstein in 2015 when she alleged that he, alongside former British socialite and also convicted sex offender Ghislaine Maxwell, sex-trafficked her when she was just 16 years old in 2000.

She also alleged that Epstein forced her to have sex with the Duke of York three times when she was 17 - in New York, London, and the US Virgin Islands. Andrew has always repeatedly and vehemently denied the claims.

The judge at the time struck the allegation from the record and said it was "immaterial and impertinent to the central claim".

But on August 9, 2019, court documents from the 2015 case were unsealed and released to the public.

The following day, Epstein, who was arrested on July 6 for the sex trafficking of minors in Florida and New York, was found dead in prison.

On November 16, 2019, Andrew gave his now-infamous interview to BBC's Newsnight, where he claimed that he has "no recollection of ever meeting" Ms Giuffre, further denying the allegations against him.

Regarding Epstein, he stated that: "I have stayed in a number of his residences. At no stage during the limited time I spent with him did I see, witness or suspect any behaviour of the sort that subsequently led to his arrest and conviction."

The Duke said that he could not have had sex with Ms Giuffre on the night she alleges because he had taken his daughter Princess Beatrice to a birthday party at Pizza Express in Woking, Surrey.

He also denied that the infamous picture of him appearing to have his hand around a young Ms Giuffre was real, saying: "Listen, I don’t remember, I don’t remember that photograph ever being taken."

The interview led to a public backlash and days later, Andrew announced that he would be stepping down from his royal duties, adding that he deeply sympathised with Epstein's victims and everyone who "wants some form of closure".

In December of that year, Ms Giuffre appeared on BBC's Panorama, further accusing the Duke of York of sexually abusing her. The interview was recorded before Andrew's, which aired the previous month.

In it, she said: "He [Prince Andrew] knows what happened. I know what happened, and there’s only one of us telling the truth, and I know that’s me.

"I implore the people in the UK to stand up beside me, to help me fight this fight, to not accept this as being ok."

She added: "This is not some sordid sex story. This is a story of being trafficked, This is a story of abuse and this is a story of your guys’ royalty."

At the time, Buckingham Palace released a statement which read: "Any suggestion of impropriety with underage minors is categorically untrue.

"It is emphatically denied that the Duke of York had any form of sexual contact with Virginia Roberts. Any claim to the contrary is false and without foundation."

Ms Giuffre filed a lawsuit against the Duke of York in August 2021 for alleged sexual abuse.

In a statement to the ABC, she said: "I am holding Prince Andrew accountable for what he did to me. The powerful and the rich are not exempt from being held responsible for their actions.

"I hope that other victims will see that it is possible not to live in silence and fear, but one can reclaim her life by speaking out and demanding justice."

The next year, she reached an out-of-court settlement with the prince for an undisclosed amount. However, the settlement accepted no liability.

A letter filed to the court announcing the settlement read: "Prince Andrew intends to make a substantial donation to Ms Giuffre's charity in support of victims’ rights.

"Prince Andrew has never intended to malign Ms Giuffre’s character, and he accepts that she has suffered both as an established victim of abuse and as a result of unfair public attacks."

The prince has always denied any wrongdoing.