Emails appearing to show contact between Prince Andrew and Jeffrey Epstein have emerged where the royal is believed to have told the paedophile to ‘keep in close touch and we’ll play some more soon’

Prince Andrew was still emailing his paedophile friend Jeffrey Epstein two months after he claimed to have broken off contact, according to court papers.

The newly disclosed documents led to fresh calls from Epstein’s victims for Andrew to be quizzed by the FBI. The Duke of York insisted he severed ties with Epstein in December 2010 after a now-infamous meeting in New York’s Central Park. But an email exchange from February 2011 appears to contradict this.

It shows Andrew, 64, saying to the financier: “Keep in close touch, and we’ll play some more soon!!!!” One woman who was abused by Epstein when she was a teenager told the Mirror: “Another example of powerful men apparently thinking they can lie and get away with it.

Prince Andrew claimed to have cut contact with Epstein in 2010 ( 
Image:
PA)

Jeffrey Epstein took his own life in 2019 ( 
Image:
ABACA/PA Images)
“For years, your prince has insisted that he cut ties with Epstein in 2010, but these emails seem to prove that was a fabrication. It’s time for him to stop hiding and finally answer questions under oath.”

US lawyer Spencer Kuvin, who represents several of Epstein’s victims, said: “Andrew continues to be an embarrassment to his family.” The email was uncovered in a filing by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority, which is defending an appeal by former Barclays boss Jes Staley. In 2023, the American, 68, was fined and banned from management positions for misleading regulators about his ties to Epstein.

In Andrew’s notorious 2019 BBC Newsnight interview, he categorically denied having any contact with Epstein after their December 2010 meeting. He told Emily Maitlis: “By mutual agreement, during that walk in the park, we decided that we would part company, and I left, I think it was the next day. And to this day, I never had any contact with him from that day forward.”

Other files released in separate proceedings yesterday revealed Andrew’s private secretary admitted to an alleged Chinese spy that the interview had been a “disaster.” Dominic Hampshire told Yang Tengbo, a Chinese businessman now banned from the UK over espionage concerns: “We have dealt with the ­aftermath of an ill-advised and unsuccessful interview.”

Epstein was found dead in a Manhattan jail in August 2019 while he awaited trial on sex-trafficking charges. One of the financier’s victims, Virginia Giuffre, accused Andrew of sleeping with her on three occasions. The Duke vehemently denied her allegations, later agreeing to pay his accuser a reported £12million in an out-of-court settlement. He was contacted for comment.