The Duke of York told Jeffrey Epstein “we are in this together” in an email three months after he said he had stopped contact with the paedophile financier, according to reports.
The Sun On Sunday and Mail On Sunday report the email was sent on February 28, 2011 – the day after the well-known photograph of the duke and Virginia Giuffre was published.
Andrew told BBC Newsnight that he broke off his friendship with Epstein in December 2010.
According to the papers, Andrew wrote in the message: “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 is said to have signed off with “A, HRH The Duke of York, KG”.
Andrew stepped away from his public role in 2019 amid the furore over his friendship with convicted billionaire paedophile Epstein.
He later paid millions to settle a civil sexual assault case with Ms Giuffre, who was trafficked by Epstein as a teenager and who Andrew claimed never to have met.
The duke has always denied any wrongdoing.
In January this year, a section of the email emerged in court documents, which at the time was reported to be from a “royal family member”.
The claim was made by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in court documents for a legal battle against former Barclays chief executive Jes Staley.
Mr Staley was appealing against a finding by the watchdog that he gave a misleading account of the nature of his relationship with Epstein, and denies doing so.
In an amended statement of the case, the FCA said that features of the relationship between Epstein and Mr Staley showed they were “close”, and that emails sent between the pair were “inconsistent with a business relationship”.
These included Epstein making “numerous introductions and recommendations for Mr Staley”, including with the royal family member, and calling each other “family” in some emails.
The FCA said: “On 15 June 2010, Mr Epstein emailed a member of the British Royal Family noting: ‘if you can find time to show jes around with vera that would be fun, he told me he ran into you tonight.’
“The royal family member replied asking who Vera was and noting that he had seen Jes in Harry’s Bar and would contact him in the morning.
“Mr Epstein replied on 15 June 2010 noting that Vera was ‘my future ex wife, i know jes and she would love to see home’.
“The royal family member replied on the same date that he was having ‘dinner with Jes tomorrow evening’.”
It continued: “On 27 February 2011, Mr Epstein emailed a member of the British royal family ‘jes staley will be in London on next tue afternoon, if you have time’.
“The recipient replied the following day ‘Jes is coming on 1st March or next week?’ and then following discussion of press articles ‘keep in close touch and we’ll play some more soon!!!!’.”
In an interview with BBC’s Newsnight, Andrew told Emily Maitlis: “I ceased contact with him (Epstein) 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.”
He later said that in December 2010: “I had to show leadership and I had to go and see him and I had to tell him, ‘That’s it’.”
Epstein was found dead in his cell at a federal jail in Manhattan, in the US, in August 2019 while he awaited trial on sex-trafficking charges.
The death was ruled a suicide.
The Duke of York’s office has been contacted for comment.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.independent.co.uk ’
