New evidence from the Epstein files reignites the debate about how close the relationship between former Prince Andrew and his family was with Jeffrey Epstein, even after his imprisonment. Despite Andrew’s repeated denials, the Epstein files revelations outline a more complex and deep network of contacts – from social interactions and invitations to private events to personal communication that appears to have continued for years.
Prince Andrew sent Christmas card with photos of his daughters to Epstein
Prince Andrew sent a Christmas card to Jeffrey Epstein containing photographs of his young daughters, a full year after he had publicly claimed to have severed all contact with the convicted pedophile. The evidence comes from the “Epstein Files.” The card, dated December 21, 2011, was sent shortly after Epstein’s release from prison and bears the Duke of York’s handwritten signature. In his message, Andrew wishes: “I wish you joy and happiness during these festive days and for the year ahead.” According to the Daily Mail, inside were three photographs of Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, two with their father and one posing together. At that time Beatrice was 23 years old and Eugenie was 21. The card also contained a sketch apparently depicting Andrew walking in the snow with four dogs, heading toward a snowman holding the British royal flag. Among the images were also a photograph of the snow-covered Royal Lodge at Windsor, the former family residence, as well as a snapshot that appears to show him in a canoe.
The contradictions and revelations in the Epstein case and his relationship with Andrew
These revelations directly contradict what he had stated in 2019, in his interview with Emily Maitlis for the BBC Newsnight program. Then he had categorically maintained: “To this day I have had absolutely no contact with him from that day onwards,” referring to their meeting in Central Park on December 5, 2010, which had been captured by photographers. However, the “Epstein Files” reveal that Andrew sent a second Christmas card on December 20, 2012, again with photographs of his daughters and his ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson. This included images from a charity bike ride, from mountaineering activity at Mont Blanc in February 2012, where Beatrice poses with one hand on her hip, as well as from Eugenie’s participation in a nighttime cycling event in London, wearing a helmet and reflective vest. There were also photographs of him rappelling from The Shard skyscraper and Ferguson crossing Great Slave Lake in Canada.
Meanwhile, a recently declassified email included in the case file states that Andrew “had consensual sexual relations” with Virginia Giuffre. He categorically denies having any sexual contact with the trafficking victim. According to the documents, a journalist had warned Epstein that he should distance himself from the then Duke of York. A source from royal family circles commented that sending such a warm Christmas card “further undermines the claim that he had severed all contact.” As they characteristically noted: “What was Andrew thinking? It doesn’t look good at all to send photos of your daughters to a convicted pedophile.” The same source added that the files show how close the York family’s relationship with Epstein remained even after his imprisonment for child pornography crimes. “We now know that Fergie had taken Beatrice and Eugenie to meet him just days after his release,” they noted.
According to the evidence, Sarah Ferguson had visited Epstein with her daughters in 2009, immediately after his release from Palm Beach County jail, where he had served 13 months of an 18-month sentence for crimes involving the sexual exploitation of minor girls, some as young as 14. Other emails released by the US Department of Justice show that the princesses were occasionally invited to participate in Epstein’s social contacts and offer tours of Buckingham Palace. In one of these, he assured a friend who was about to meet Beatrice: “She likes me, she’s okay.”
In Ferguson’s email correspondence with Epstein, there’s even reference to her younger daughter’s personal life, with the mother noting that Eugenie had gone on “a romantic adventure weekend” when she was 19 years old. The files also reveal that Ferguson and both her daughters had invited Epstein to Andrew’s 50th birthday, at a private event at St. James’s Palace in February 2010, shortly after his release. In the invitation they asked him to bring “your gifts, your presence and your humor,” to celebrate “daddy/Andrew’s 50 years,” specifying that the dress code was “suits and cocktail dresses.” Ferguson even promised that the reception would include “a little of my own mysterious mischief.”
Additionally, Andrew had hosted Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell and Harvey Weinstein at Royal Lodge in 2006, for Beatrice’s 18th birthday, even though an arrest warrant was already pending against the financier. Of particular interest is the communications management of the case. In an email sent more than a year later, Ferguson mentions that the then 22-year-old Beatrice agreed it was “important” to inform the media that Epstein “had served his sentence” in prison. The former duchess noted that she had called a journalist in April 2011 to say it was “wrong” to characterize him as a sex offender, since he was now “moving on with his life”.
