The Duke of York was in contact with the US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein longer than he had previously admitted, emails published in court documents appear to show.
“Keep in close touch and we’ll play some more soon!!!!” said an email sent to Epstein from a “member of the British Royal Family”, believed to be Prince Andrew.
The court documents, from the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), show the email as being sent in February 2011.
In his BBC Newsnight interview, Prince Andrew had said he had not seen or spoken to Epstein after going to his house in New York in December 2010, a meeting which he described as a “wrong decision”.
The email was revealed in a court case involving the FCA and banker Jes Staley, who was banned from senior positions in the financial services industry over claims he had not fully revealed the extent of his relationship with Epstein.
Staley had been CEO at Barclays, but left the bank following an investigation into his connection to Epstein, which he has said he deeply regretted.
Staley is appealing against the FCA’s ruling, but the financial regulator’s evidence showing Staley’s contact with Epstein also reveals emails relating to a “member of the British Royal Family”.
These email exchanges between the royal and Epstein appear friendly and familiar.
In June 2010, Epstein emailed: “If you can find time to show jes around with vera that would be fun.. he told me he ran into you tonight,” in messages first reported by business news agency Bloomberg.
The Royal Family member responded by asking who Vera was, and a few days later Epstein replied: “my future ex wife, i know jes and she would love to see home”. A dinner then seems to have been arranged.
In Prince Andrew’s Newsnight interview, he was asked about the extent of his association with wealthy financier Epstein, a convicted sex offender who died in jail in 2019 while awaiting a further trial.
The prince said that he had ceased contact with 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”.
A photographer had captured Prince Andrew and Epstein walking together in New York’s Central Park in December 2010, while the prince stayed at Epstein’s house.
“Was that visit, December of 2010, the only time you saw him after he was convicted?” interviewer Emily Maitlis had asked the royal.
Prince Andrew replied “yes”. Maitlis then asked: “Did you see him or speak to him again?”, to which Andrew responded: “No.”
But emails a few months after that New York meeting suggest, if not a direct conversation, there were still friendly exchanges.
According to the court documents, on 27 February 2011, Epstein emailed: “jes staley will be in London on next tue afternoon, if you have time.”
There was a reply from the “member of the British Royal Family” with a question: “Jes is coming on 1st March or next week?”
The court documents say there was a “discussion of press articles” and then the message: “Keep in close touch and we’ll play some more soon!!!!”
Prince Andrew is believed to have first met Epstein in 1999, through Epstein’s friend Ghislaine Maxwell.
The following year, in June 2000, Epstein and Maxwell were among guests at a party at Windsor Castle. Later that year, Prince Andrew held a birthday party for Maxwell at Sandringham, with Epstein in attendance.
The relationship appeared to continue, with Epstein attending another Windsor Castle party in July 2006 – after which Prince Andrew said he stopped contact with Epstein until their December 2010 meeting.
