Prince Andrew told Jeffrey Epstein “we are in this together” in an email sent after a photograph of the royal with his arm around a teenage Virginia Giuffre was published in 2011. The correspondence, published by the Mail on Sunday and the Sun on Sunday, appears to contradict the duke’s previous claims that he had ceased contact with the convicted child sex offender by December 2010.
In the email, dated 28 February 2011, Andrew wrote to Epstein: “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!!!!” The message was reportedly signed off with “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 said he met Epstein to tell him “that’s it”. However, the newly published email suggests they remained in contact months later.
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 with a minor.
A section of the email had previously emerged in court documents in January, linked to a legal case involving former Barclays chief executive Jes Staley. Buckingham Palace and the Duke of York’s office have been contacted for comment.
