Prince Andrew sent an email to Jeffrey Epstein in February 2011 saying “we are in this together”, after a photograph of the royal with Virginia Giuffre was published. The message appears to contradict the Duke of York's earlier claim that he had cut contact with Epstein in December 2010.
The email, dated 28 February 2011, was sent the day after the well-known picture of Andrew, Giuffre and Ghislaine Maxwell became public. In it, Andrew told Epstein to “keep in close touch” and expressed a wish to “play some more soon”. He also 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.”
In a 2019 BBC Newsnight interview, Andrew said he had ceased contact with Epstein after learning of his investigation in 2006, and had not been in touch until 2010. He later maintained that in December 2010 he visited Epstein to tell him “that’s it”. The newly published correspondence appears to undermine that account.
Epstein was found dead in his Manhattan jail cell in August 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. His death was ruled a suicide. In 2008, he had pleaded guilty to charges related to soliciting prostitution, including with a minor.
A section of the email previously emerged in court documents in January, attributed to a “royal family member”, in a case involving former Barclays chief executive Jes Staley. Separately, it was also reported this weekend that Tony Blair met Epstein at Downing Street in May 2002, after Peter Mandelson described Epstein as “safe” and a “friend” in an email to Blair's chief of staff.
