Ghislaine Maxwell email appears to confirm infamous Andrew and Virginia Giuffre photograph is real
Email also appears to contradict Andrew’s claim he had taken his daughter to Pizza Express in Woking, and returned home on the evening the picture was said to have been taken
Ghislaine Maxwell appeared to confirm the infamous photograph of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and his accuser Virginia Giuffre is real, in newly released documents.
Giuffre, writing in her posthumous memoir Nobody’s Girl, said she asked Jeffrey Epstein to take the picture of her with the disgraced former prince at Maxwell’s house on the same night she alleged Andrew had sex with her for the first time, while she was aged 17.
Andrew has always denied the claim. In 2019, in an interview with BBC Newsnight, he denied meeting Giuffre and questioned the photograph’s authenticity.
In the document released as part of the latest tranche of Epstein files, a “G Maxwell” sends an email to Epstein titled “draft statement” in 2015.
It reads: “In 2001, I was in London when [redacted] met a number of friends of mine including Prince Andrew. A photograph was taken as I imagine she wanted to show it to friends and family.”
Although the name is redacted from the published version, the details of the email and further correspondence indicate Maxwell is talking about Giuffre.
On Wednesday night, Giuffre’s brother, Sky Roberts, told Newsnight that the email “truly does vindicate Virginia”.
“The email itself is incredibly important,” he said. “I think it is also really important to note that it truly does vindicate Virginia. It shows that not only was she not lying this entire time, even though many people across multiple countries indicated that she was. It does vindicate her that she was telling the truth.
“Not only did Ghislaine mention that the photo was real but also mentioned that it was in the same house that Virginia had mentioned. It’s a moment where we are really proud of our sister... but we also want to use this as a moment to remind people to believe survivors.”
The email comes three months after the emergence of another email from Epstein on the photograph in the last release of files, which also appeared to confirm the photograph was real.
“Yes, she was on my plane, and yes, she had her picture taken with Andrew, as many of my employees have,” he said in the email to a journalist in 2011 while referring to Giuffre.
Giuffre alleged Andrew had sex with her a total of three times: in London, New York and on Epstein’s private island. Andrew has always denied the claims and reached an out-of-court settlement with her in 2022.
The Independent has approached Andrew for comment.
In the disastrous interview on Newsnight in 2019, he said that investigations had been carried out to establish whether a photograph of him with Giuffre was faked, but they were inconclusive.
He also claimed he had taken his daughter Beatrice to Pizza Express in Woking on the day in question.
Following the latest release of Epstein files, revealing more on Andrew’s relationship with the convicted sex offender, further pressure has been placed on the former royal, who had his titles stripped from him last year.
On Monday, he moved out of his home in Windsor to the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk.
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