Prince Andrew attended an intimate dinner with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein months after Epstein was released from prison, according to newly released US justice department files. The documents include emails from Hollywood publicist Peggy Siegal inviting several high-profile figures to a “last-minute casual dinner” for the Duke of York, who was in New York on an “unofficial private visit” in December 2010. The gathering appears to have taken place at Epstein's New York home, where Andrew was staying.
Siegal drew up a guest list for what she described as a “very interesting, fast, fun dinner” involving Andrew and Epstein. She invited film director Woody Allen and his wife Soon-Yi Previn, political strategist George Stephanopoulos and his wife Alexandra Wentworth, journalist Katie Couric, and talkshow host Charlie Rose. It is not clear who ultimately attended, but emails suggest Wentworth withdrew because her children were sick. Siegal told Stephanopoulos: “Come on time and you will have private time with Andrew as he is staying at the house.”
Separate emails between Epstein and an account named “The Duke” from August 2010 suggest Epstein wanted to introduce “A” to a 26-year-old Russian woman, whom he suggested he “might enjoy having dinner with”. The “Duke” replied that he would be in Geneva “until the morning of the 22nd but would be delighted to see her” and asked if she would be bringing a message. The email is signed “A” with an apparent email signature reading “HRH Duke of York KG”. Epstein described the woman as “clever, beautiful, trustworthy” and confirmed she had the Duke’s email.
In another email, Epstein’s accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell addressed a sender calling themselves “The Invisible Man” as “Andrew” and referred to “Sarah and the kids”. An email from August 2002 shows the two accounts discussing a weekend on “the Island”, with Maxwell suggesting “5 stunning red heads” would be there. Maxwell also sent a condolence email to the Invisible Man on the loss of his grandmother, the Queen Mother, in 2002. Maxwell is now serving a 20-year prison sentence for child sex trafficking in the US.
Andrew has withdrawn from royal life and been stripped of his titles over his links to Epstein. In 2022, he paid a reported £12m settlement to Virginia Giuffre, who claimed she was forced to have sex with him after being trafficked by Epstein. He strenuously denied the allegations and made the payment without admitting liability. Epstein died by suicide in prison in 2019 while facing fresh child sexual abuse charges.
