The King is under pressure to severe ties with his younger brother, after yet another damaging revelation in Andrew’s relationship with disgraced US financier Jeffrey Epstein.

It follows the publication at the weekend by two British tabloids of an email purportedly from the prince to Epstein, in which he said “we are in this together” – months after Andrew said he had ended contact with Epstein.

The Sun On Sunday and Mail On Sunday said the email was sent on February 28, 2011 – a day after the infamous photograph of Andrew with 17-year-old Epstein-accuser Virginia Giuffre was published.

The email is just the latest in years of damaging allegations about relationship between the Duke of York and the convicted paedophile.

Less than a month ago, charities severed ties with the Duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson, the prince’s ex wife, after it was alleged she had emailed Epstein, describing him as a “supreme friend.”

Andrew and Sarah – to whom he is still close – have faced a series of scandals over years, amid concerns the prince has tried to profit from his royal status.

He was forced to give up all royal duties and charity roles after a 2019 interview with BBC Newsnight in which he was criticised for trying to minimise his connections with Epstein and failing to show sympathy for his victims.

“I ceased contact with him [Epstein] after I was aware that he was under investigation and that was later in 2006 and I wasn’t in touch with him again until 2010,” the prince told the BBC.

He later said that in December 2010: “I had to show leadership and I had to go and see him and I had to tell him, ‘That’s it’.”

Amid the fallout from the Newsnight, Andrew stepped away from his public role in 2019.

But he is still a feature at personal royal family moments – including Easter church services and last month’s funeral for the Duchess of Kent. He also remains a Knight of the Garter, Britain’s oldest and most senior knighthood.

‘Gravest since the abdication’

Following the most recent revelations, British historian AN Wilson was damning about Andrew’s conduct, describing it as a “major crisis for the monarchy – perhaps the gravest since the abdication of Edward VIII in 1936″.

“The King and the Prince of Wales cannot be seen to support or underwrite Andrew anymore,” Wilson told the Daily Express newspaper.

“His very existence as an official royal is a scandal. So they must cast him out, for if they show him mercy, they are themselves implicated, and we are only a hair’s breadth away from a republic.”

Elsewhere, royal author Ingrid Seward told The Sun that the latest allegation “looks very, very bad for Andrew”.

“It’s a small but hugely damning email. By getting caught in this lie, he has put one foot in the mire and slipped and got his whole body in the muck,” she said.

“If it was his contention that he had never met Virginia [Giuffre], or indeed that the infamous image was a creation, then surely he would have said something straight away?

“This is the point of no return for Andrew. The lifeless tentacles of Epstein’s reputation are ruinous to many people and I can’t see a way back from this.”

In 2022, the duke paid millions to settle a civil sexual assault case with Giuffre, who was trafficked by Epstein as a teenager and who Andrew has repeatedly claimed never to have met.

Giuffre, who had moved to Western Australia, died by suicide earlier this year, aged 41.

The Duke of York has always denied any wrongdoing.

The Duke of York’s standard flies at Royal Lodge in 2008. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

What to do about a problem like Andrew?

The royals’ next big family get-together will be Christmas at Sandringham. The BBC reports that “it seems unlikely that Prince Andrew” and the Duchess of York will be invited.

“He’ll be frozen out. And don’t expect to see him in video footage shown during the King’s Christmas message, as any sightings will be edited out,” royal correspondent Sean Coughlan wrote on Sunday (British time).

Andrew was also absent from last year’s royal Christmas – including the traditional walk to church. It followed revelations a suspected Chinese spy had developed close links to him, raising concerns about efforts to put undue influence on other members of the royal family.

There have been repeated calls for Andrew to be removed from Royal Lodge, the 30-room mansion at Windsor that he shares with the duchess.

The King has reportedly asked Andrew to move into the smaller Frogmore Cottage, once home to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. But Andrew, who signed a 75-year lease for Royal Lodge in 2003, has repeatedly refused.

Two years ago, the King cut his brother’s yearly living subsidy of £250,000 ($468,000), which was expected to put pressure on the duke to maintain the massive home. But Coughlan reports the prince “seems to have cultivated his own independent sources of funding since leaving public life”.

“If Andrew can afford to pay his bills at Royal Lodge then it’s not obvious how he can be dislodged,” Coughlan writes.

There have also been calls to strip Andrew of his titles. In August, a YouGov poll found 67 per cent of Britons would back the removal of the dukedom, as well as his princely title.

An earlier YouGov survey found that just 5 per cent of those asked have a positive view of Andrew. He languishes at the bottom of the royal favourability tables, beneath the Duchess of Sussex (20 per cent positive rating) and Prince Harry (28 per cent).

Legislation would be required for Parliament to strip Andrew of his dukedom. His birthright to be a prince, as the son of a monarch, could be changed in a Letters Patent issued by the King.

The duke stopped using his style of his royal highness following his disastrous Newsnight interview. It could be removed entirely by a Letters Patent.

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