London: Prince Andrew told the late American Jeffrey Epstein they were “in this together” the day after a damning picture of the prince with Virginia Giuffre was published, a leaked email has revealed.

The Duke of York wrote that he was “concerned” about his friend, the paedophile financier, and would “rise above” questions from the press.

Prince Andrew with Virginia Giuffre, centre, in 2001, with Epstein’s then personal assistant, Ghislaine Maxwell.

The email, obtained by the Mail on Sunday, was sent 12 weeks after Andrew has said he ceased contact with Epstein.

In his disastrous 2019 BBC Newsnight interview, Andrew said he stopped contacting the convicted sex offender in December 2010 after they were pictured in Central Park, New York.

Epstein was convicted in 2008 for procuring a minor for prostitution and was sentenced to 18 months in prison in the United States. He died by suicide in prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges.

Among Epstein’s victims was Giuffre, who lodged a civil lawsuit against Andrew in August 2021. She alleged that she had been trafficked by Epstein to London and raped and abused the prince on three separate occasions when she was 17.

Epstein died in his prison cell in 2019.Credit: AP

Andrew reached an out-of-court settlement with Giuffre in 2022, avoiding a jury trial. He paid her an estimated £9 million ($18.4 million) but has always vehemently denied the allegations, insisting that he had no recollection of ever meeting her.

The prince has continued to face questions over his relationship with Epstein and whether he maintained contact with him longer than he has publicly claimed.

The email, dated February 28, 2011, appears to undermine Andrew’s position in the Newsnight interview, when he said he had cut ties “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”.

The email followed the publication of a photograph in the Mail on Sunday showing Andrew with his arm around Giuffre, then 17, at the London home of Ghislaine Maxwell, the socialite and former girlfriend of Epstein.

Virginia Giuffre in 2022, with a photo of herself as a teenager.Credit: Miami Herald via Getty Images

At the time, Giuffre said she had suffered sexual abuse at the hands of Epstein for four years. Her introduction to the prince occurred during a six-week trip to Europe.

In the email, reported by The Sun and the Mail on Sunday, 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 reportedly signed off the message with: “A, HRH The Duke of York, KG.”

KG refers to his title of Knight of the Garter, which he has held since 2006 and still holds.

Sarah, Duchess of York, and Prince Andrew, Duke of York, at a requiem mass for Katharine, Duchess of Kent, last month.Credit: Getty Images

It is claimed that Epstein’s email address was confirmed through official records, and Andrew’s email address was also verified.

Andrew was forced to withdraw from public life shortly after the Newsnight interview and was stripped of his military titles and charity affiliations by his late mother, Queen Elizabeth II.

However, historians said that his association with Epstein continues to cause reputational damage to the royal Family. Historian A N Wilson described Andrew’s conduct as a “major crisis for the monarchy… perhaps the gravest since the abdication of Edward VIII in 1936”.

Writing in the Mail on Sunday, he added: “The King and the Prince of Wales cannot be seen to support or underwrite Andrew any more.

King Charles III, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward gather at Windsor Castle for the committal service for Queen Elizabeth II in 2022.Credit: AP

“His very existence as an official royal is a scandal. So they must cast him out, for if they show him mercy, they are themselves implicated, and we are only a hair’s breadth away from a republic.”

British royal author and editor-in-chief of Majesty Magazine Ingrid Seward told The Sun: “I’m afraid this looks very, very bad for Andrew. It’s a small but hugely damning email. By getting caught in this lie, he has put one foot in the mire and slipped and got his whole body in the muck.

“If it was his contention that he had never met Virginia, or indeed that the infamous image was a creation, then surely he would have said something straight away?”

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She added: “This is the point of no return for Andrew. The lifeless tentacles of Epstein’s reputation are ruinous to many people and I can’t see a way back from this.”

Andrew has categorically denied the claims made by Giuffre. In the interview, he told broadcaster Emily Maitlis that the alleged London encounter with Giuffre “never happened”.

He added that the picture with Ms Giuffre could have been forged and said: “Nobody can prove whether or not that photograph has been doctored but I don’t recollect that photograph ever being taken.”

The program suggested there had been emails following the meeting in New York and that there had been friendly exchanges, if not a direct conversation.

According to the court documents, on February 27, 2011, Epstein emailed: “Jes Staley will be in London on next tue afternoon, if you have time.”

A reply from the “member of the British Royal family” asked: “Jes is coming on March 1 or next week?”

Staley, who worked for Epstein when he was head of J.P. Morgan’s private bank, has always denied knowing about Epstein’s crimes.

Giuffre died by suicide on April 25, 2025, at her home in Western Australia at the age of 41.

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This report comes just weeks after at least seven charities dropped Andrew’s ex-wife, Sarah, the Duchess of York, as a patron or ambassador following the emergence of an email dating from 2011 in which she reportedly referred to Epstein as her “supreme friend” and appeared to apologise for her public criticism of him.

A spokesman for the duchess stated: “This email was sent in the context of advice the duchess was given to try to assuage Epstein and his threats.”

The London Telegraph approached the office of the Duke of York for comment.

The Telegraph, London

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