A newly released email appears to confirm the authenticity of a photograph of Britain’s Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor with his arm around the waist of Virginia Giuffre, one of the most prominent victims of Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking ring.
The disgraced former prince has long denied allegations he sexually assaulted Giuffre while she was a teenager and had previously questioned whether the now-infamous photo had been doctored.
But in the trove of new documents released by the US Justice Department last week is a 2015 email to Epstein purportedly from his former girlfriend and longtime accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell that suggests the image of Andrew and Giuffre is real.
The message was headed “draft statement” and sent by a “G Maxwell” to the late convicted sex offender in January 2015.
“It 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,” the email reads.
Details in the statement and subsequent emails from Epstein the same day indicate the redacted name was Giuffre.
Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year sentence for child sex trafficking and other crimes, also appears in the photograph.
The message adds that “G Maxwell” did not see “anything improper that took place at my home.”
In a separate email to Epstein, “G Maxwell” said, “I have to distance myself from you in statement too. And they need me to say I was not aware of massage (with) andrew in my house.”
CNN has approached Maxwell’s representatives and has attempted to contact Mountbatten-Windsor’s representatives for comment.
The Epstein scandal has dogged Mountbatten-Windsor for years, culminating in him being stripped of his royal titles and ordered to leave the Royal Lodge on the Crown’s Windsor Estate by his brother, King Charles III, last year.
Giuffre’s family told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Thursday they wish Giuffre were here to witness this moment and see her impact.
“I’m very proud of her for everything she was able to accomplish and everything she keeps accomplishing from beyond,” Giuffre’s brother Sky Roberts said.
Roberts applauded the growing social justice movement coming out of the files release and called for a criminal investigation of Mountbatten-Windsor.
“I think that his day is coming, and we hope that they open up a criminal investigation on him quite frankly,” Roberts said.
In an interview with British public broadcaster BBC, Giuffre’s family called the release of the email a “vindicating moment.”
“It shows that not only was she not lying this entire time … she was telling the truth,” Roberts said.
“It’s a moment where we’re really proud of our sister. I think that it is a vindicating moment, but we also want to use this as a moment to remind people to believe survivors,” Roberts added.
Giuffre, who died by suicide in 2025, repeatedly claimed that she was forced to have sex with the then-prince while underage on three occasions – in London, New York and at Little St. James, colloquially known as Epstein Island. She claimed that Mountbatten-Windsor was aware she was underage in the US when they were introduced.
