A 2001 photograph depicts Virginia Giuffre and Prince Andrew, Duke of York (now known as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor) with Ghislaine Maxwell. The photograph was taken by Jeffrey Epstein at Maxwell's home in the Belgravia district of London. The photograph was published for the first time in a cropped version in 2011 by the Mail on Sunday; the newspaper subsequently published the full image in 2019. The whereabouts of the original photograph are unknown. The authenticity of the image has been disputed by Andrew and Maxwell but affirmed by Giuffre. However, emails released by the United States Government written by both Maxwell and Epstein appear to confirm its authenticity.
The photograph depicts Prince Andrew, Duke of York (now known as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor) with his arm around the 17-year-old Virginia Giuffre with the smiling Ghislaine Maxwell standing to their left. The photograph was taken by Jeffrey Epstein at Maxwell's London home at 44 Kinnerton Street in London's Belgravia district on the night of 10 March 2001. Epstein's reflection is obscured by the flash from the camera reflected in a window. The original photograph was taken with Giuffre's yellow Kodak camera which Epstein had given to her. Giuffre said in 2011 that the image had been taken as "I wanted something to show my mom". In interviews Giuffre alleged that she had been flown to meet Andrew in London by Epstein and that she and Andrew had sexual intercourse on the night the photograph was taken in the bathtub of the house after visiting the nightclub Tramp. Andrew disputed this by claiming that he was at the PizzaExpress restaurant in the Surrey town of Woking that night with his daughter Princess Beatrice.
In February 2011, the News of the World published a photograph of Epstein walking with Andrew in New York's Central Park in 2010. Epstein had been released from prison in July 2009 after pleading guilty to state charges of solicitation of prostitution and of solicitation of prostitution with a minor under the age of 18.
A week after the publication of the Central Park photograph, the Mail on Sunday asked Giuffre for evidence of her claims that she had been trafficked for sex by Epstein. Giuffre gave the Mail on Sunday the photograph of her, Andrew, and Maxwell which they published. The photograph had been unseen by the public until the Mail on Sunday article. The newspaper paid Giuffre $140,000 to publish the image and $20,000 for two interviews with her.
The image that was published is a 2011 photograph of the original 2001 photograph taken by the New Zealand photographer Michael Thomas. In 2019, The Daily Mail published the full photograph which had previously only been seen in a cropped version. In the uncropped version, the blurred image of Epstein's thumb can be seen along with an abstract painting and greater detail of the interior.
The picture was instrumental in the subsequent legal actions by Giuffre against Andrew. Writing in The Guardian in 2022, Edward Helmore felt that the image could serve as "a prequel and postscript of the saga".
The house at 44 Kinnerton Street was sold by Maxwell in 2021. The funds from the sale increased her funds for her legal fees from $7 million to more than $10 million.
In his 2019 BBC interview with Emily Maitlis, Andrew said that he had "absolutely no memory of that photograph ever being taken" but that he recognised himself in the photograph. He also said that "from the investigations that we've done, you can't prove whether or not that photograph is faked or not because it is a photograph of a photograph of a photograph. So it's very difficult to be able to prove it but I don't remember that photograph ever being taken" and that he did not "believe that photograph was taken in the way that has been suggested". He told Maitlis that he had never seen Epstein with a camera and that he did not ever remember going upstairs in Maxwell's house. He also said that as a member of the British royal family he was not prone to "hug and public displays of affection".
Andrew claimed that the image could not be of him as he always wore a suit and tie when in London and that he does not do public displays of affection as he is a member of the British royal family. His public affection defence was undermined by subsequent published images of him hugging and kissing various personalities.
In the aftermath of Epstein's suicide in 2019 two newspaper articles quoting unnamed 'friends' of Andrew appeared in the The Daily Telegraph and the Evening Standard claiming that his fingers were different to the fingers depicted in the image. It was claimed that his fingers were "quite chubby" and not "quite slender, like a girl's fingers" which they believed proved the image was fake. Alleged inconsistencies in the relative height difference between Andrew and Giuffre were also claimed. Sources told the Daily Telegraph that Giuffre appeared to be "below average height" despite being a similar height to Andrew in the photograph. The Daily Mail reported that his true height was c.182 cm and Giuffre's was c.176cm which is represented by the image.
In a 2023 interview Maxwell stated that she did not believe the photograph was real, could not recall it being taken and had no memory of Giuffre and Andrew ever meeting. She stated that there was "no original of that photo, [only] copies of it that have been produced, copies of copies. Parts of it, according to some experts, look like they have been photoshopped".
Photographer Michael Thomas, who took the 2011 photograph of the 2001 photograph, does not doubt the authenticity of the image saying that he had "always believed it was real" and that if it had been fake, news media companies would be sued for using the image. Thomas said that when he saw the photograph it was in among Giuffre's "typical teenage snaps".
In a 2023 article for News.com.au, Daniela Elser wrote that the windows of Maxwell's house on Kinnerton Street look "near-identical" to the windows in the photograph.
Giuffre said that people who claimed the image was fake were "going to keep coming up with these ridiculous excuses like his arm was elongated or the photo was doctored ... I mean IâÂÂm calling BS on this".
Wendy Murphy, a former sex crimes prosecutor told The Guardian that there was no 'innocent explanation' for Andrew to be hugging Giuffre in a social situation and that were it not a photograph of a British royal with a commoner the picture would "tell you nothing".
In March 2026 as part of the Epstein files released under the Epstein Files Transparency Act an email from a "G Maxwell", was described by BBC News as appearing to confirm that the photograph was authentic. A "draft statement" sent by a "G Maxwell" in 2015 to Epstein stated "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". Giuffre's brother said that the email "... truly does vindicate Virginia... she was not lying this entire time".
In 2025 an email written by Epstein in 2011 was released by the House Oversight Committee in which he stated that "Yes she [Giuffre] was on my plane and yes she had her picture taken with Andrew".
During the Giuffre v. Prince Andrew case, Andrew's lawyers asked Giuffre to produce the original photograph, which she was unable to as its location was unknown and her legal team had not seen the original photograph. It had allegedly been shipped from Colorado to Sydney between 2011 and 2016. Giuffre had lent the image to the American Federal Bureau of Investigation. In 2016 she said under disposition that the photograph was not in her possession, but it was "probably in some storage boxes" either at her home or in Sydney at the house of her in-laws.