Prince Andrew’s six-year downfall over Jeffrey Epstein ties comes to a dramatic conclusion

The family of one of the most prominent survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s sexual abuse has welcomed Prince Andrew’s announcement that he will stop using his royal titles, including the Duke of York.

“Prince Andrew’s decision to give up his titles is vindication for our sister and survivors everywhere,” the family of Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who died by suicide in April at the age of 41, said in a statement.

A flow of stories about Prince Andrew’s association with Epstein has dogged King Charles III’s younger brother for six years, with the scandal becoming one of the most damaging in recent British royal history.

Giuffre had alleged that Epstein trafficked her to his powerful friends, including Andrew, against whom she filed a lawsuit in 2021 alleging that Andrew sexually abused her when she was 17.

Andrew, who denies having had sex with Giuffre and any wrongdoing connected to Epstein, stepped back from active royal duties in 2019 as controversy around his association with Epstein swirled. He agreed to settle the suit with Giuffre for an undisclosed amount in 2022 with no admission of wrongdoing.

Friday’s announcement came after the Mail on Sunday and the Sun on Sunday newspapers published an email, not verified by NBC News, reported to have been sent by Andrew to Epstein in 2011, after a photograph was published showing Andrew with his arm around Giuffre, accompanied by Ghislaine Maxwell.

The palace did not comment on the reported email, which the newspapers say told Epstein “we are in this together” and concluded “play some more soon.”

The email was especially damaging because it appeared to contradict his previous comments in a 2019 interview with the BBC, in which he said he had stopped communicating with Epstein after visiting him in New York in 2010, the year before.

“That was the real last nail in the coffin for Andrew because it makes him look, in black and white, like a liar,” said NBC News royal commentator Daisy McAndrew.

“He is now persona non grata,” said McAndrew. “He won’t be welcome at any royal events, and he will have to keep an even lower profile than he has done so far.”

Andrew did not respond to requests for comment on the email, but has previously repeatedly denied that the photo of him with Giuffre is real.

In their statement, Guiffre’s family urged King Charles to “remove the title of prince.”

McAndrew said stripping Andrew of his princely title would require a legal change that is “highly unlikely.”

Andrew’s decision to stop using his titles was taken “in discussion with The King, and my immediate and wider family,” he said in a statement on Friday.

“As I have said previously, I vigorously deny the accusations against me,” Andrew said.