2010: Prince Andrew Meets Epstein in New York After His Release
Prince Andrew, Duke of York, is photographed walking in Central Park with Jeffrey Epstein in December 2010, more than a year after Epstein completed his Florida sentence and during his registered sex offender period — photographs that would cause significant public controversy nine years later.
People Involved
In December 2010, Prince Andrew, Duke of York, visited New York and was photographed walking with Jeffrey Epstein in Central Park. The photographs are significant because they show the two men together not before Epstein’s criminal troubles — when association could be explained by ignorance — but more than a year after Epstein’s release from Palm Beach County jail and during the period of his registered sex offender status.
The photographs were taken on December 4, 2010, and first became a significant public issue in 2011 when they were published in the Daily Mail, leading to scrutiny of Andrew’s continued association with Epstein.
The optics were devastating for Andrew: meeting a registered sex offender in a public park while he was serving as the UK’s Special Representative for International Trade and Investment. The UK government and royal palace faced questions about whether Andrew’s continued association with Epstein was appropriate.
Andrew’s defense at the time was that he was using the visit to tell Epstein their friendship was over — a claim that was widely questioned given the relaxed, friendly appearance of the photographs.
The December 2010 Central Park photographs became Exhibit A in the case that Epstein maintained his elite social connections well after his conviction, undermining the narrative that the criminal justice outcomes had meaningfully curtailed his life or standing.