Featured Image Credit: Virginia Giuffre
Topics: Virginia Giuffre, Ghislaine Maxwell, Prince Andrew, Jeffrey Epstein, Royal Family, News, London
Niamh Shackleton
Topics: Virginia Giuffre, Ghislaine Maxwell, Prince Andrew, Jeffrey Epstein, Royal Family, News, London
Virginia Giuffre's family have addressed a newly released email believed to have been sent by Ghislaine Maxwell in which she addressed the infamous photograph taken of the then-young woman and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.
Giuffre, who sadly took her own life last year, made a series of allegations about the former Duke of York dating back to 2001 when she met the royal family member in London, UK.
Giuffre had claimed that she was sexually abused by Andrew on three occasions when she was a teenager after being trafficked by Jeffrey Epstein's accomplices, including Maxwell, allegations which the former Duke of York has continuously denied.
There's a famous photograph of a 17-year-old Giuffre with Andrew at what's believed to have been Maxwell's London home; however, both Maxwell and Andrew have previously suggested that the photo is 'fake'.
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However, an email part of the 3,000,000 pages of documents released last week regarding Epstein included an email from 'G Maxwell' that addressed the photograph in question and appeared to confirm it was taken.
The email read: "In 2001 I was in London when [redacted] met a number of friends of mine including Prince Andrew. A photograph was taken as I imagine she wanted to show it to friends and family."
"Prince Andrew came to my house to visit me – [redacted] was in the house and they did meet," Maxwell added.
Now Giuffre's family has spoken out, telling the BBC that she has been 'vindicated'.
Sky Roberts, Giuffre's brother, said: "It truly does vindicate Virginia. It not only shows that she was not lying this entire time, even though many people across multiple countries indicated that she was, it does vindicate her.
"Not only did Ghislaine say that the photo was real but she also mentioned that it was in the same house that Virginia had mentioned."
"It's a moment where we're really proud of our sister," he added, "but we also want to use this as a moment to remind people to believe survivors."
While Maxwell seemingly confirmed the photograph's authenticity, in the emails, she denied that anything 'improper' took place between the former prince and Giuffre, and accused her of making the allegations about Andrew for 'financial gain'.
"The salacious claims she makes are untrue and made purely for financial gain," Maxwell wrote.
"The relentless media harassment to which I, Alan Dershowitz and Prince Andrew have been subjected to over the last week has become intolerable and breaches any justifiable sense of natural justice."
In 2021, Giuffre filed a civil lawsuit claim against Mountbatten-Windsor, and in 2022, they reached an undisclosed out-of-court settlement without admission of liability.
If you've been affected by any of the issues in this article, you can contact The National Sexual Assault Hotline on 800.656.HOPE (4673), available 24/7. Or you can chat online via online.rainn.org.