Latest Epstein revelations dig even deeper hole for Andrew

"This week is all about me," wrote the then-Prince Andrew to the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, in a small, epic statement of a lack of self-awareness.

"Time to put something back into me before the rest of the world starts sucking it out in all their greed and demands," he wrote, in an email that's part of the latest disclosures from the US Department of Justice.

He was in a good mood, thanking Epstein, because he seemed to have helped sort out a problem for his ex-wife Sarah, over unpaid wages. He added he was about to go into his "annual retreat for the next eight days".

And, almost incidentally, this was in February 2011 - putting more holes in Andrew's assurances that he'd cut off any contact with Epstein the previous year.

The public might once again have a collective eye-roll and think here we go again. More unedifying pictures and words. More character-trashing revelations. It doesn't get any better for Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.

The photos show him on all fours a state similar to the position of his reputation.

In terms of where this story might end up, it is clear from this latest batch of emails how much the US authorities had been trying behind the scenes to get Andrew to give evidence about Epstein.

In early 2020 there were multiple email exchanges, with an increasingly irritated US Department of Justice wanting to know when Andrew would fulfil his public commitment to help with inquiries into Epstein's activities.

"Please advise as to whether Prince Andrew will agree to be interviewed and, if so, when such interview will take place," wrote an investigation team from the US Department of Justice in February 2020, in an exchange with Andrew's lawyers.

In that case a mix of legal stonewalling and the pandemic seem to have intervened, but there must still be a possibility of further pressure from the US to supply evidence, such as the Democrats in Congress requesting his testimony last year.

Andrew has consistently and strenuously always denied any wrongdoing and his office has been contacted for comment.

On Saturday, he was seen driving his car and riding a horse in Windsor, in photos published by the MailOnline.

Buckingham Palace appears in these emails - not least as somewhere for Andrew to entertain Epstein in private. It was part of the trappings of Andrew's life of entitlement.

But as an institution, Buckingham Palace and the monarchy must be quietly relieved that such strong action was taken against Andrew last autumn. The stripping of his titles pre-empted the calls that would have inevitably come from these latest disclosures.

And the latest batch of emails provide even more evidence of the closeness between Andrew and Epstein.

They're in touch on Christmas Day in 2010 and Andrew sent Epstein one of those homemade family messages at Christmas, with pictures of his daughters, and a photo of himself abseiling on the Shard.

In his Newsnight interview, he claimed that in December 2010 he'd travelled to New York to meet Epstein to formally and unequivocally end his relationship with the financier, who by then had served a jail sentence for soliciting prostitution from a minor.

But Andrew's own email after that trip, now revealed, gives an entirely different version: "It was great to spend time with my US family. Looking forward to joining you all again soon," he told Epstein.

"I'll call you tomorrow... as I am moving the family up to Sandringham during the day."

The disclosed emails include those two dangerous icebergs for the royals - sex and money. Both seemed to be means of control for Epstein.

In July 2010, there seem to be business deals under discussion. Epstein had emailed Andrew that he had been in "non stop all day meetings and my friends are super flush with cash , and nothing to do. lets get moving [sic]"

Epstein mentions a contact "with 20 billion dollars, and hungry for deals" and Andrew, as well as saying he wants to "pay homage to your new life ahead", he replies: "Even looking at purchases from government of up to £3B each."

The full picture isn't clear, but the emails give fragmentary glimpses, with mentions of opportunities and connections in China, the Gulf, Libya.

"So long as I delegate any responsibility to invest then there are no problems," writes Andrew to Epstein in May 2010, clarifying that he meant he could use a bank, investment vehicle or another trusted person.

Epstein also seems to have been putting Andrew in touch with a young woman, who he describes as "26, russian, clevere beautiful, trustworthy and yes she has your email".

There are other details emerging from this vast information drop.

It's clear that Andrew was accompanied on trips to see Epstein by police protection officers, because there are conversations about their accommodation. It might raise questions about what they might have seen and heard?

The emails show the growing concerns over the famous picture of Andrew and Virginia Giuffre. Andrew's former private secretary Amanda Thirsk offered Andrew what seems to be a form of words that Ghislaine Maxwell could use to show that any claims over a sexual relationship with Giuffre that night or later were "completely untrue".

"The only time I recall them meeting was at my home in 2001 in London - you have published a photo. They did not have sex. They may have met again in New York but I categorically state that Prince Andrew did not grope Ms xxx. Nor did they have sex. There was no orgy in Little St James," says the proposed statement, which would seem to accept that Andrew and Giuffre did meet in London and New York.

This proposed statement was forwarded by Andrew for Epstein to see - and Epstein's comments back were to emphasise that this was all a "fabrication" and to "distance me from any of this if you can".

Sarah Ferguson, the former Duchess of York, will be further embarrassed by this latest tranche of emails.

In 2009, she describes Epstein as "the brother I have always wished for" and enthusiastically gives him details of her latest business ideas.

She didn't travel lightly. When visiting him, there's a request on her behalf for four apartments.

Later in the same year, after the crash of a business venture, she writes to Epstein: "I urgently need 20,000 pounds for rent today. The landlord has threatened to go to the newspapers if I don't pay. Any brainwaves?"

There are lawyers letters about deals to pay off her creditors and an email from Epstein claiming to have helped her financially for 15 years.

The former Duchess of York has been approached for comment.

Behind her back, Epstein seems to have been far from complimentary, sending another contact a link to a newspaper article about Ferguson, with the comment: "Pic of F from Friday not the prettiest sight."

None of this latest information could be called pretty. It remains to be seen whether the public, and the authorities, feel they've seen more than enough, or whether there are even more questions to be answered by the beleagured former Duke of York.