‘I can’t take any more of this,’ then-Prince Andrew wrote during Epstein
scandal, emails reveal
[November 14, 2025]
By BRIAN MELLEY
LONDON (AP) — As the man formerly known as Prince Andrew was drawn into
the news surrounding sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, he sought to distance
himself from the scandal.
“I can’t take any more of this,” a sender identified in Epstein's
contacts as “The Duke" wrote to him in 2011, in one of thousands of
partly redacted emails released Wednesday.
Fourteen years later, the former Duke of York has been stripped of all
his titles, including the princeship bestowed at birth. Andrew
Mountbatten-Windsor — as he’s now known — was royally demoted two weeks
ago by his brother, King Charles III, and faces eviction from the
mansion where he's lived rent-free near Windsor Castle.
But the bad news keeps coming for the man who was once second-in-line to
the throne.
The recent trove of documents has renewed the sexual assault allegations
against Mountbatten-Windsor and undermined his denials that he ever met
his accuser, Virginia Roberts Giuffre. They also reveal some of the
efforts made behind the scenes to attack her claims.
Mountbatten-Windsor, the second son of the late Queen Elizabeth II, has
vehemently denied all allegations by Giuffre, who took her own life
earlier this year. But he did settle a lawsuit out of court that
reportedly paid her millions of dollars.
When Mountbatten-Windsor's ties to Epstein — who had been convicted of
soliciting prostitution in Florida — were first reported in 2011, he was
forced to resign as Britain’s special trade envoy.
The scandal, however, resurfaced in 2019 when Epstein was arrested for a
second time on charges of sex trafficking. Giuffre said she was 17 when
she was trafficked to have sex with Mountbatten-Windsor.
In a disastrous attempt to clear his name, Mountbatten-Windsor did an
interview with the BBC in which he denied ever meeting Giuffre and said
he broke off contact with Epstein in December 2010. He was widely
criticized for showing no empathy for Epstein’s victims and for offering
unbelievable explanations for his friendship with Epstein.
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His downfall over the past month began when other emails showed his
Epstein friendship lasted far longer than he disclosed. Those
revelations were followed by the publication of Giuffre's posthumous
memoir last month that detailed the three times she said they had
sex.
The new emails undercut Mountbatten-Windsor's claim that a
now-infamous snapshot of him with his arm around Giuffre's partly
bare midriff was doctored because he couldn't remember it being
taken.
“Yes she was on my plane, and yes she had her picture taken with
Andrew as many of my employees have,” Epstein wrote in one 2011
email in which he called Giuffre a liar.
Epstein repeatedly disparaged Giuffre, calling her “nothing more
than a telephone answerer.”
He discussed getting a reporter to investigate her, suggesting
“Buckingham Palace would love it.”
When the Mail on Sunday sought comment before publishing a story in
March 2011 about Giuffre’s allegations, Epstein forwarded the email
to a contact listed as “The Duke” that is partly redacted but
appears to be Mountbatten-Windsor.
“Please make sure that every statement or legal letter states
clearly that I am NOT involved and that I knew and know NOTHING
about any of these allegations," the reply from the email listed as
“The Duke” said. "I can’t take any more of this (on) my end.”
When he asked Epstein how he planned to respond to the tabloid's
request, Epstein said he wasn't sure.
"The only person she didn’t have sex with was Elvis,” he wrote.
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