Prince Andrew Reportedly Emailed Jeffrey Epstein a Day After Infamous Picture Emerged: 'We Are In This Together’

The Duke of York reportedly wrote to disgraced financier Epstein in February 2011, 12 weeks after he says he had cut ties with him

NEED TO KNOW

• Details of Prince Andrew and Jeffrey Epstein's relationship have emerged with the publication of an alleged 2011 email
• The Duke of York, who is King Charles' brother, allegedly sent Epstein a note of "concern" saying, "We are in this together"
• It follows the emergence of an old email from Andrew's ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, in which she called him a "supreme friend"

Fresh evidence of the closeness between Prince Andrew and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has emerged in a newly-revealed email which purportedly shows Andrew telling him, "We are in this together."

The alleged email, citing Andrew's "concern," was sent a day after the infamous picture of the prince with his arm around Virginia Giuffre was published in 2011.

The picture was initially published by The Mail on Sunday in the U.K. in February of that year. The following day, on Feb. 28, Andrew reportedly 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.”

Queen Elizabeth's second son added, “Otherwise, keep in close touch, and we'll play some more soon!!!!" Before signing off with “A, HRH The Duke of York, KG” (a reference to him being a knight of the prestigious Order of the Garter).

The newly-discovered email was published on Oct. 12 concurrently by The Mail on Sunday and The Sun on Sunday in the U.K., and PEOPLE has reached out to Prince Andrew for comment.

The email heaps more scandal on the Duke of York. The sympathetic, supportive message from Andrew, 65, to Epstein would appear to prove that the royal was in contact with the shamed financier for months despite telling the BBC that he had cut ties with him. King Charles’ brother told BBC Newsnight’s Emily Maitlis that he had visited Epstein in New York in December 2010 to end their association in person. The pair were pictured walking in Central Park during Andrew's visit. However, the email revealed by the papers on Oct. 12 is from the following February.

Epstein was convicted on June 30, 2008, in a Florida state court after being charged with one count each of soliciting a minor for prostitution and soliciting prostitution.

The picture, showing Prince Andrew with his arm around Virginia Giuffre (then Roberts) at what was said to be Ghislaine Maxwell’s mews house in London, has dogged Andrew ever since it was first published. When the photo was first uncovered, Giuffre – who died by suicide in April this year – made public her claims about Andrew.

She said she was trafficked by Epstein to have sex three times with Prince Andrew in London and elsewhere when she was 17. The royal has consistently denied the claims and, in 2022, he settled a case brought by her for a reported $13 million, without admission of any wrongdoing. In his BBC Newsnight interview, Andrew claimed, “I have absolutely no memory of that photograph ever being taken,” Andrew told Maitlis, before going on to question the authenticity of the photo. He said he was wearing his “traveling clothes” as opposed to his regular suit and tie and suggested that his left hand had been photoshopped onto Giuffre’s side in the image.

“I don’t remember that photograph ever being taken,” he said. “I don’t remember going upstairs in the house because that photograph was taken upstairs and I am not entirely convinced that…I mean that is…that is what I would describe as me in that…in that picture but I can’t…we can’t be certain as to whether or not that’s my hand on her whatever it is, left… left side.”

Emily Michot/Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Virginia Roberts Giuffre holds an image of herself when she was a teen

Epstein died in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal conspiracy and sex trafficking charges.

The revelation of the email comes only weeks after another email — published by The Sun and The Mail on Sunday on Sept. 20 — in which Andrew's ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, sent Epstein praising him as "a steadfast, generous and supreme friend to me and my family." That 2011 email was sent after she had said in an interview that she regretted accepting money from him and vowed not to contact him again. Since then, several charities have cut ties with Ferguson.

A spokesman told PEOPLE at the time that Ferguson, popularly known as Fergie, "spoke of her regret about her association with Epstein many years ago, and as they have always been her first thoughts are with his victims."

The rep added, "Like many people, she was taken in by his lies. As soon as she was aware of the extent of the allegations against him, she not only cut off contact but condemned him publicly, to the extent that he then threatened to sue her for defamation for associating him with paedophilia. She does not resile from anything she said then. This email was sent in the context of advice the Duchess was given to try to assuage Epstein and his threats."

More revelations could come soon. Guiffre’s posthumously published memoir, Nobody’s Girl: A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice, is set to be released later in October 2025.