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By Jack Royston
Chief Royal Correspondent
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Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor—formerly Prince Andrew—is under further pressure after the release of an email about "inappropriate friends" purporting to be from a man called "A" at "royal summer camp."
The message, part of the latest batch of Jeffrey Epstein files released by the U.S. Department of Justice was sent to Ghislaine Maxwell, a former girlfriend of Epstein.
Andrew was accused by Virginia Giuffre of rape in a New York lawsuit which he settled out of court in 2022 while denying liability. Andrew has always denied Giuffre’s allegations.
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Why It Matters
Giuffre said in court filings, media interviews and her book Nobody's Girl that she was trafficked to London, New York and the U.S. Virgin Islands and made to have sex with Andrew over several months from March 2001 by Epstein and Maxwell. She said she feared death if she refused.
Epstein died in his jail cell in August 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges while Maxwell was jailed for 20 years on sex trafficking charges in 2022 for her role in grooming girls for Epstein to abuse.
The 'Invisible Man' Emails
The emails were first reported by U.K. newspaper The Times and have been reviewed by Newsweek. The latest email was reportedly sent in August 2001 from the address "abx17@dial.pipex.com" and the "from" section showed the name: "The Invisible Man." The message was signed "A xxx" and read: "I am up here at Balmoral Summer Camp for the Royal Family.
"Activities take place all day and I am totally exhausted at the end of each day. The Girls
are completely shattered and I will have to give them an early night today as it is getting tiring splitting them up all the time!"
The royal family is known to holiday at Balmoral, their private estate in Scotland, in August each year. Newsweek has not been able to confirm whether the email address did belong to Andrew.
"How’s LA?" the message continued. "Have you found me some new inappropriate friends? Let me know when you are coming over as I am free from 25th August until 2nd Sept and want to go somewhere hot and sunny with some fun people before having to put my nose firmly to the grindstone for the Fall."
He signed off: "Any ideas gratefully received! See ya A xxx." Quoted by The Times, Maxwell later replied: "So sorry to disappoint you, however the truth must be told. I have only been able to find appropriate friends." Maxwell signed off: "Kisses Gx."
The "Invisible Man" wrote back: "Distraught! You probably wouldn't know but I lost my valet on Thursday. He died in his sleep.
"He had been with me since I was 2. I am a little off balance as not only has my office been restructured, I have left the RN and now my whole life is in turmoil as I have no one to look after me. He was a real rock and almost a part of the family. If you have any good ideas as to how to get my mind back on track I'd be grateful for advice."
How the Emails Compare to Facts of Andrew's Life
It is not possible to say definitively who sent the emails but questions will be asked of Andrew based on certain details which appear to match the events of Andrew's life.
For example, the emails reference leaving the RN, in 2001, and Andrew left the Royal Navy that year. Quoted by Hello! magazine in July, 2001, he said: “There comes a time when all good things must come to an end.”
The email also makes reference to "the girls" being tired at Balmoral and needing an early night. Andrew has two daughters, Princess Beatrice, then 13, and Princess Eugenie, then 11.
Balmoral is also a private royal family estate that is not generally open to the public and few Brits beyond the royal family have valets, servants whose job it is to be right hand man to their principals, including helping them to dress.
The word "inappropriate" could, of course, mean many things and at the time the email was sent Epstein's crimes were not known publicly. Nor was Maxwell's roles in grooming girls for Epstein to abuse.
In a 2019 BBC interview, Andrew played down his relationship with Epstein: "Well I met through his girlfriend back in 1999 who… and I'd known her since she was at university in the UK and it would be, to some extent, a stretch to say that as it were we were close friends."
He later added: "Remember that it was his [Epstein's] girlfriend [Maxwell] that was the key element in this."
That emphasis on Maxwell has perhaps not aged as well as Andrew might have imagined since Maxwell was jailed for 20 years in 2022.
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