Prince Andrew told Jeffrey Epstein in an email “we are in this together” after a photograph of the British royal with his arm around a teenage Virginia Giuffre was published in 2011, according to correspondence obtained by British newspapers.
The email, sent on 28 February 2011, the day after the image appeared, contradicts the Duke of York’s earlier claim that he had ceased contact with the convicted sex offender by December 2010. In the message, Andrew told Epstein to “keep in close touch” and expressed a wish to “play some more soon”.
In a 2019 BBC Newsnight interview, Andrew said he broke off the friendship after Epstein’s 2006 investigation and only saw him once in 2010 to end the relationship. The email, however, suggests ongoing communication.
The correspondence emerged as part of a legal case involving former Barclays chief executive Jes Staley, who appealed a Financial Conduct Authority finding that he misled regulators about his ties to Epstein. The email was previously reported as being from a “royal family member”.
Separately, it was revealed that Tony Blair met Epstein in Downing Street in 2002 after a recommendation from Peter Mandelson, who described Epstein as “safe” in an email. Mandelson was sacked as US ambassador last month over his links to Epstein.
