A stain on the nation

Duke told sex offender: We're in this together

- BY ANDY LINES Chief Reporter

PRINCE Andrew has been accused of throwing the monarchy into a crisis on the scale of the abdication in 1936 over his scandalous friendship with Jeffrey Epstein.

Devastating new revelations show Andrew emailed convicted paedophile Epstein on February 28, 2011, the day after the photo of the prince with Virginia Giuffre was first published.

It suggests he lied when he claimed in his 2019 Newsnight interview that he cut contact with Epstein in 2010.

In the email, Andrew appears to tell Epstein: ‘Im just as concerned for you! Don't worry about me! It would seem we are in this together and will have to rise above it. Otherwise keep in close touch and we'll play some more soon!!!’

Respected royal historian A N Wilson said: “It is 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 any more. 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.”