Newly released emails from Jeffrey Epstein appear to contradict former Prince Andrew’s long-standing claim he had never met his accuser Virginia Giuffre.
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s prince title was stripped from him in October by King Charles III over his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein and fresh emails casting doubt on his account of ending their friendship. Now a further email from Epstein, sent in 2011, appears to undermine Andrew’s denials, made during a BBC interview in 2019.
Giuffre had made public a photograph she says Epstein took of Andrew with his arm around her waist in Ghislaine Maxwell’s London townhouse in 2001. That same night, Giuffre says she was first made to sleep with Andrew when she was a 17-year-old sex trafficking victim. Andrew has always denied the allegations. Giuffre sued him at New York civil court accusing him of rape and he settled out of court while denying liability in 2022.
In the newly released 2011 messages, Epstein wrote that Giuffre had “her picture taken with Andrew,” adding that several of his employees had as well.
Jeffrey Epstein’s Email Appears to Confirm Photo’s Authenticity
The correspondence, made public by the House Oversight Committee, suggests Epstein acknowledged the authenticity of the photo that has become central to the scandal surrounding Andrew.
The former prince denied ever meeting Giuffre and also said investigations had not been able to confirm the authenticity of the photo, while Epstein’s former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell claimed it is fake. Maxwell was jailed for 20 years in 2022 on sex trafficking charges for her role in grooming girls for Epstein to abuse.
Quoted by The Sun, Epstein’s email, sent to a reporter, read: “The girl has fled the country with an outstanding arrest warrant. The da [sic] after she accused others, said in writing that she has no credibility, she was never 15 years old working for me, her story made it seem like she first worked for trump [sic] at that age and was met by ghislaine maxwell [sic].
“Total horse s***, the daily mail [sic] paid her money, they admitted it, with the statement that it took money to coax out the truth. Yes she was on my plane, and yes she had her picture taken with Andrew, as many of my employees have.”
Epstein’s email added: “I will ask if they will cooperate – Prince people.”
The email came months after The Mail on Sunday and Daily Mail published the first interview with Giuffre, in February 2011, including the photograph of Andrew with his arm around Giuffre’s waist.
Meanwhile, journalists on Wednesday asked White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt for Donald Trump’s view on whether Andrew should co-operate with requests for him to testify before the House Oversight Committee. “I can ask the president about it and get back to you,” Leavitt said.
What Andrew and Ghislaine Maxwell Said About Photo
Andrew was asked about the photo during a sit down interview he did in an attempt to clear his name with Emily Maitlis for BBC Newsnight in 2019.
He said he had never met Giuffre and disputed her account of having sex with him, as well as questioning the authenticity of the photo.
“From the investigations that we’ve done,” Andrew said, “you can’t prove whether or not that photograph is faked or not because it is a photograph of a photograph of a photograph. So it’s very difficult to be able to prove it but I don’t remember that photograph ever being taken.”
“Well here’s the problem,” he continued, “I’ve never seen Epstein with a camera in my life.”
Pressed further, Andrew said people “might well wish to believe it but the photograph is taken upstairs and I don’t think I ever went upstairs in Ghislaine’s house.”
“I’m terribly sorry but if I, as a member of the Royal Family and I have a photograph taken,” Andrew continued, “and I take very, very few photographs, I am not one to, as it were, hug. And public displays of affection are not something that I do.
“So that’s the best explanation I can give you and I’m afraid to say that I don’t believe that photograph was taken in the way that has been suggested.”
Quoted by The Independent, Maxwell said in an interview with the D.O.J. this year: “I believe it’s literally a fake photo.”
Former Prince Andrew, Jeffrey Epstein Relationship Explained
Andrew has said he met Epstein through Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein former girlfriend, in 1999 and he brought the couple into the heart of the Monarchy, including to Balmoral, Queen Elizabeth II’s private estate in Scotland.
Epstein also lent Andrew’s ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, £15,000 to help her consolidate her debts at a time of financial crisis. She thanked him profusely in a January 2011 email that was recently released, leading to Ferguson being axed by seven charities she worked with. Ultimately, the friendship destroyed both Andrew and Ferguson, nicknamed Fergie in the media.
First Andrew was photographed walking through Central Park, in New York, with Epstein in December 2010 and then Giuffre said in interviews, court filings and depositions that she was trafficked by Epstein and Maxwell aged 17 to London, New York and the U.S. Virgin Islands and made to have sex with Andrew. She said she feared death if she refused.
Backing up her account was the now famous photo of Andrew with his arm around her waist, with Maxwell visible in the background.
This is not the first time emails have emerged casting doubt on Andrew’s account. In October it emerged that the day after Giuffre’s first interview with the Mail, in February 2011, Andrew sent Epstein an email saying “we’ll play some more soon.”
He had told the BBC in 2019 he cut off his friendship with Epstein two months earlier in December 2010, during their walk through Central Park, and added: “I never had any contact with him from that day forward.”
What Happened to Virginia Giuffre?
Giuffre sued Andrew at civil court in New York in 2021 and the following year he settled for an undisclosed sum without admitting liability.
She set about writing her biography, Nobody’s Girl, published in October, but did not live to see it be released. Giuffre died in April in what her family described as a suicide.
However, her brother Sky Roberts said she would consider King Charles III’s decision to strip Andrew of his royal titles as a victory. “This normal girl from a normal family has taken down a prince. We are so proud of her,” he said.
Updates: 11/12/25, 2:56 p.m. ET: This article was updated with new information and remarks.
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