Prince Andrew Told Epstein "We're In This Together" In 2011 Email: Report

Months after UK Royal Prince Andrew claimed to have cut ties with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, a newly leaked email showed that the Duke of York was still in touch with his disgraced friend.

In the email, dated February 28, 2011 - accessed by Daily Mail - the Prince told Epstein that "we are in the scandal together" and would "play some more soon".

This came after Andrew claimed that he flew to New York to cut ties with Epstein, specifically, in December 2010.

In the email, 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 signed off with, "A, HRH The Duke of York, KG."

Andrew wrote to Epstein a day after a widely circulated photograph showed the Prince with Virginia Giuffre, one of Epstein's accusers, and Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's close associate, who was later convicted for sex trafficking.

The picture, taken in 2001, had Andrew with his arm around Giuffre. She has long alleged that she was sexually trafficked by Epstein and that she was forced to have sex with Andrew three times between 2001 and 2002. Andrew, however, had refuted the claims, saying he never met Giuffre and alleged that the widely circulated photograph showing them together could have been "doctored".

In a 2019 Newsnight Interview with BBC, Andrew claimed he cut ties with Epstein in 2006 after learning he was being investigated for sex offences and said he had not contacted him until 2010.

"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 alleged, further adding, "I had to show leadership and I had to go and see him [in December 2010] and I had to tell him 'that's it.'"

Epstein died by suicide in 2019 in a federal jail in New York while he was awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges.