The latest email cache tears to shreds Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s claims on Newsnight that he cut off all contact with paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
From arranging a ‘good time’ for his goddaughter visiting Buckingham Palace, to fixing a dinner date with a ‘beautiful’ 26-year-old Russian, the pair were in touch frequently, the latest files reveal.
They show that the-then Duke of York’s story to Emily Maitlis in 2019 was packed with untruths about his friendship with the convicted child sex predator.
He claimed in the now-infamous interview filmed in Buckingham Palace: ‘I ceased contact with him…in 2006 and I wasn’t in touch with him again until 2010.’
Newly released emails explode that claim as untrue. It was in 2010 that the pair were photographed meeting in Central Park, on December 5.
With a straight face, Andrew insisted to BBC viewers: ‘To this day, I never had any contact with him from that day forward’. His claims have now been exposed as blatant lies.
Even a cursory look at some of the three million files released last Friday reveals carefree emails flying backwards and forwards between Andrew and Epstein.
Among some of the newly-unearthed emails are the following exchanges:
2009
July: Epstein is still in prison, serving a sentence for soliciting a minor, when Andrew arranges for his goddaughter Celina to visit Buckingham Palace. ‘Andrew said he could help to give her a good time. Tea in the palace!’
Sarah Ferguson apparently wrote to Epstein on July 6, when the paedophile was still locked up. Epstein responded from behind bars: ‘Give Andrew a [big] thank you from me, tell him it means a lot to me’.
2010
February: Epstein receives an email apparently from Amanda Thirsk, Andrew’s private secretary, inviting him to the prince’s 50th birthday at St James’s Palace. Epstein replies he is ‘not able’ to attend.
April: Andrew messages the financier: ‘I have no immediate plans to drop by New York but I think I should at some stage soon. It would be good to catch up in person.’ Epstein was barely a year out of jail, still signing a sex offender register.
July: The day after Epstein’s release from house arrest, he emails The Duke and ‘Ferg’ saying he will be in Paris, and Andrew replies: ‘Congratuations! [X] told me you were allowed out yesterday’.
The contact between Andrew and Epstein continued throughout 2010 – despite the then duke claiming ‘I ceased contact with him in 2006’.
August: Dinner Epstein set up for Andrew and a ‘beautiful, trustworthy’ 26-year-old Russian woman. The same month, Andrew and Epstein discuss inviting Epstein to lunch at Royal Lodge to discuss ‘the way ahead for me!’ – Ferguson’s need to plan her financial future.
October: ‘Great to see you,’ writes Andrew to Epstein.
November: ‘What sort of clothes will I need to bring? ie will I need something for the heat in case we go south or will it all be in NY so therefore COLD’, the duke asks the financier, adding: ‘See you tomorrow afternoon. Really looking forward to seeing you and spending some time with you after so long. Some interesting things to discuss and plot’
December: Andrew sends Epstein a Christmas card saying: ‘It was great to spend time with my US family. Looking forward to joining you all again soon’ and wishing him ‘spectacular entry into 2011’.
2011
January: ‘Happy New Year’ writes Andrew, in an email seeking help to broker a deal to bail out Sarah Ferguson’s debts.
February: ‘Keep in close touch and we’ll play some more soon!!!!’ Andrew writes to the paedophile.
March: Epstein lands his private jet at an RAF base during a visit to Sandringham, with Andrew swinging the permission.
2017
May: Epstein is kept abreast of Andrew’s Pitch@Palace initiative and a Windsor Castle dinner hosted by him in an email from Pitch director David Stern.
