ANDREW Mountbatten-Windsor WAS in New York when Virginia Giuffre claimed he sexually assaulted her there aged 17, bombshell emails show.
The ex-prince has emphatically denied staying at Jeffrey Epstein’s £60million Manhattan mansion in April 2001.
New files released by US investigators suggest he spent the night there after ditching a Palace aide.
The revelation adds weight to Virginia’s claim that Epstein made her have sex with Andrew a second time in New York, after an encounter in London a month earlier.
Last night her family said she had once again been vindicated.
The emails pile more pressure on Andrew, 65, to answer questions about his links to Epstein.
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In his 2019 Newsnight interview he said: “I wasn’t staying there. I may have visited but definitely didn’t, definitely no, no, no activity.”
But The Sun discovered he emailed Epstein’s British lover Ghislaine Maxwell to ask for a “bed for the night” and ditched his staff on a free evening during a three-day official trip to the US.
I will be free when I get back to New York on the evening of the 11th and would dearly love a bed for the night somewhere prior to taking off to Nassau on the 12th, Thursday
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor
He was visiting as chairman of the Outward Bound Trust, with British taxpayers footing the bill.
Flight logs show Virginia, then Virginia Roberts, was in New York at that time.
On March 20, 2001, ten days after he was pictured with Virginia in London, Andrew messaged Maxwell his itinerary for the visit.
Andrew wrote he would arrive in New York on April 9 “around lunchtime” and would be attending a supper, but was free before.
I wasn’t staying there. I may have visited but definitely didn’t, definitely no, no, no activity
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor
He confirmed he was staying with the British Consul that night before a day of meetings.
Andrew told Maxwell he would then fly to Boston for the night of the 10th and stay there most of the next day before returning to New York.
Andrew then wrote: “I will be free when I get back to New York on the evening of the 11th and would dearly love a bed for the night somewhere prior to taking off to Nassau on the 12th, Thursday.
“I am going via Miami. I will have staff with me, but they go back from Boston on 11th when I come back to New York. Look forward to hearing from you.”
A second email, from Maxwell to Andrew a week later, also suggests he stayed at Epstein’s seven-storey lair, referred to as “71st”.
The pair appear to discuss a further meet-up and Maxwell writes: “Any visits to 71st have to now I think be considered public as there was a huge article in the paper w/pictures after your last visit . . . glad about the hospitality.”
Any visits to 71st have to now I think be considered public as there was a huge article in the paper w/pictures after your last visit . . . glad about the hospitality
Ghislaine Maxwell
Flight logs show Virginia flew to New York on the same day Andrew did.
She and Epstein left his £8million Florida mansion and flew aboard his 22-seat Gulfstream, with its personalised licence code ending JE, to New York via Atlantic City.
A further email, sent in 2011 from ex-New York Times reporter Landon Thomas Jr to Epstein, mentions a draft statement by the financier to hit back at allegations.
Thomas asserts Andrew had sex with Virginia, referred to as VR, a claim which he vehemently denies.
Thomas tells Epstein: “It’s Andrew (not Clinton and the rest) that is keeping the story alive. Until you are able to come forward and address that the story lives on.
“I mean in the end he had consensual sex with VR. And VR worked for you.”
Andrew and his allies have long sought to cast doubt over Virginia’s story.
He paid her an estimated £12million in 2022 to settle a civil sexual assault lawsuit out of court, while making no admission of liability and denying her claims.
Virginia died by suicide last year aged 41.
Her family said last night: “Once again Virginia is being proven to be the truth-teller she always has been. We are deeply proud of her. As she once said publicly, ‘I know what happened, he knows what happened, and only one of us is telling the truth and I know that’s me’. We will not stop until every abuser is exposed and held accountable.”
This week a newly released email appeared to confirm the image of Andrew with his arm around Virginia in Maxwell’s London home on March 10, 2001, was real, despite him suggesting it was fake.
The Sun also unearthed documents which put Andrew and Virginia in London at the same time.
Once again Virginia is being proven to be the truth-teller she always has been. We are deeply proud of her
Virginia’s family
And, in a newly released 2011 email to Maxwell, Epstein discusses Virginia’s age saying: “Notice she was either 18 or a month or two short, when she was in England.”
Virginia claimed she was forced to have sex with Andrew at Maxwell’s London home, at Epstein’s New York mansion and on his private island Little St James.
A day after the London photo was taken — March 11, 2001 — Virginia signed for a FedEx package on behalf of Maxwell, sent by Epstein, at her Belgravia townhouse. The 4.5kg parcel cost £78.
And a draft statement, written by Andrew’s then-secretary Amanda Thirsk on behalf of Maxwell in 2011, admits: “The only time I recall them meeting was at my home in 2001 in London — you have published a photo.”
Meanwhile other emails appear to show Epstein admitting to being a paedophile months before his 2019 death aged 66 in a New York jail.
He appears to confess to trafficking children to Little Saint James in the December 2018 chat with his then-publicist Masha Drokova.
The only time I recall them meeting was at my home in 2001 in London — you have published a photo
Amanda Thirsk on behalf of Maxwell
The Russian, now 37, had sent Epstein a cryptic email about three women, one a filmmaker.
He replied: “Your friend Allezza (sic) told me about the project she is doing researching a really bad guy that gets children for sex sent to his island. She almost fainted when I told her that person is me.”
Drokova appears to brush over the remarks saying: “She was doing a VR movie not researching anyone. Interesting that this part appeared in your conversation.”
Officials dreading Mandy’s text drop
By Jack Elsom
NUMBER 10 fears more embarrassing revelations when private texts are released between Peter Mandelson and government aides.
The Tories have forced Downing Street into handing over a trove of correspondence relating to his brief tenure as US ambassador.
It will include reams of emails, texts and WhatsApps.
Officials expect to publish in the “high tens of thousands” but will hold back any risking national security or international relations.
Like the Covid Inquiry, they fear toe-curling exchanges between senior government figures will be revealed.
Downing Street is haggling to publish some of the vetting information they believe proves Sir Keir Starmer was lied to over the extent of the peer’s friendship with Jeffrey Epstein.
But the Conservatives argue there was plenty of public evidence — including photographs — proving their relationship continued after Epstein’s conviction for child sex offences.
Tory chairman Kevin Hollinrake said: “Keir Starmer knew more than enough of the grim details of Mandelson’s relationship with Epstein before he decided to appoint him as US ambassador.”