Andrew Begged Epstein to Clear His Name, New Email Reveals: ‘I Can’t Take Any More of This’

This article contains themes of sexual abuse and child abuse that some readers may find distressing.

Unsurprisingly, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor is back in the headlines yet again. The newly released emails by the US House Oversight Committee have placed him at the center of an old storm. After serving former Prince a letter to sit for a transcribed interview, to which he was to respond by November 20, the Committee has now shared new emails from 2011 between the disgraced royal, Jeffrey Epstein, and Ghislaine Maxwell. They show him insisting he played no part in the allegations that were gathering force around him, urging the pair to make that clear. 

The emails are a part of thousands of documents found in the disgraced financier’s estate. One chain shows Mountbatten-Windsor writing to Epstein and Maxwell, saying, “I can’t take any more of this,” as he pleaded with them to state that he had no link to the allegations. In the same exchange, he also told them that he “knew and knows nothing” about the claims brought in by Virginia Giuffre. The latter had long alleged that she was forced to be intimate with Mountbatten-Windsor, now 65, on three occasions when she was 17, in London, New York, and on Little St. James. Mountbatten-Windsor has consistently denied these allegations. 

Another set of emails shows the late financier discussing the well-known photograph of Mountbatten-Windsor and Giuffre. Epstein made it clear that the picture was real and that several of his staff had also been photographed with the former Duke. Epstein went further by urging a journalist to investigate Giuffre’s background. He described her as unreliable, saying the Palace would 'love it' if the media questioned her account. Other correspondence from 2011 shows the financier attempting to portray Giuffre as dishonest while also assuring Mountbatten-Windsor that the allegations would collapse. 

In one email, he wrote, “These stories are complete and utter fantasy," dismissing claims made against him. Epstein also suggested that Giuffre had fled the country and accused her of lying about her age and employment history. The newly released messages follow closely on the heels of an earlier email in which Mountbatten-Windsor told Epstein, "It would seem we are in this together." It was also sent in 2011, despite the former Prince claiming in his 2019 Newsnight interview that he was no longer in contact with Epstein after 2010. 

In the same interview, he told Emily Maitlis that he had travelled to New York in 2010 to see Epstein in person and ‘break off’ the friendship as it was the ‘honorable and right thing to do.’ He also said that he had no recollection of ever meeting Giuffre and also questioned the authenticity of the photograph taken with her.

Things seem to be headed for the worse for Mountbatten-Windsor. His ties to Epstein led King Charles to strip him of his remaining titles and banish him to a smaller residence on his Sandringham Estate. Giuffre’s posthumously published memoir, Nobody’s Girl, has added fuel to the fire. The new emails make it clear that the Mountbatten-Windsor controversy is far from over and that more revelations are likely to follow. 

 If you are being subjected to sexual abuse, or know of anyone who is, please call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 800.656.HOPE (4673)

If you or someone you know has experienced sexual abuse or exploitation, please call the National Child Abuse Hotline at 800.422.4453