Prince Andrew told Jeffrey Epstein in a 2011 email “we are in this together” after a photograph of the royal with his arm around a teenage Virginia Giuffre was first published. The correspondence, reported by the Mail on Sunday and the Sun on Sunday, contradicts the Duke of York’s earlier claims that he had ceased contact with the convicted child sex offender by December 2010.
In the email, sent on 28 February 2011, Andrew wrote: “I’m just as concerned for you! Don’t worry about me! It would seem we are in this together and will have to rise above it. Otherwise keep in close touch and we’ll play some more soon!!!!” He signed off as “A, HRH The Duke of York, KG.”
The duke had previously told the BBC’s Newsnight programme in 2019 that he broke off his friendship with Epstein in December 2010 after the two were photographed together in New York. He stated: “I ceased contact with him after I was aware that he was under investigation and that was later in 2006 and I wasn’t in touch with him again until 2010.” He added that in December 2010 he “had to show leadership” and tell Epstein “that’s it”.
Epstein was found dead in his cell in Manhattan in August 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. His death was ruled a suicide. In 2008, he pleaded guilty to charges of solicitation of prostitution and solicitation of prostitution with a minor.
A section of the email from the Duke of York emerged in court documents in January this year, related to a legal case involving former Barclays chief executive Jes Staley. At the time, it was reported to be from a “royal family member”.
Separately, it emerged that former Prime Minister Tony Blair met Epstein in Downing Street in 2002 after a recommendation from Peter Mandelson, who was sacked as US ambassador last month over his closeness to Epstein. Mandelson described Epstein as “safe” and a “friend” in an email to Blair’s chief of staff.
