An infamous photograph of the former Duke of York and a teenage Virginia Giuffre is real, paedophile Jeffrey Epstein confirmed in a bombshell cache of emails released last night.

Despite allies of the now Andrew Mountbatten Windsor trying to muddy the waters over the years with suggestions it was a fake, 2011 messages reveal the disgraced financier urged a journalist to investigate Ms Giuffre while admitting: 'Yes she was on my plane, and yes she had her picture taken with Andrew, as many of my employees have.'

The picture was unearthed by The Mail on Sunday that same year as Ms Giuffre claimed she slept with Andrew during a stay in London, claims the disgraced ex-prince has vehemently denied.

Epstein took the photograph on a disposable camera before the group, along with socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, headed out for dinner and then to a nightclub, Ms Guiffre said.

So his account will come as a devastating blow to embattled Andrew, who for years has sought to cast doubt over the authenticity of an image showing him holding Ms Giuffre, then 17 and known as Virginia Roberts.

Andrew's links to Epstein have already led to the King dramatically stripping him of his titles - putting an end to his public life.

The correspondence was part of thousands of documents unsealed from Epstein's estate which were published by the US House Oversight Committee on Wednesday night.

They also lay bare a 2011 exchange between Andrew, Epstein and convicted sex trafficker Maxwell - months after the former duke said he broke off all contact with the convicted paedophile.

As the MoS sought comment for its world exclusive story, Andrew emailed Epstein and Maxwell begging them to clear his name, saying: 'I can't take any more of this.'

In the email chain from March 2011, Maxwell initially forwarded the Mail's press inquiry to Epstein who in turn send it to someone listed as 'the Duke'.

The Duke, believed to be Andrew, appears to respond: 'What? I don't know any of this. How are you responding?'

Epstein told him: 'Just got it two minutes ago. I've asked g (sic) lawyers to send a letter.

'Not sure... it's so salcisous (sic) and ridiculous, im (sic) not sure how to respond, the only person she didn't have sex with was Elvis.'

An exasperated Andrew then appears to reply to Epstein, saying: '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. I can't take any more of this my end.'

Just months later in July 2011, Epstein appears to actively lobby journalists to turn the tables on Ms Giuffre, who sued Andrew in a civil sex assault case in 2021, with the pair settling for a reported £12m out-of-court but no admission of wrong-doing on the royal's behalf.

Epstein was emailed with the subject line 'heads up' on December 15, 2015 - the day of a Republican primary debate televised by CNN

In one email, Epstein tells a reporter that Buckingham Palace would 'love it' if Andrew's accuser was 'proven to be a liar'.

The email reads: '...Andrew's accuser, criminal record, total liar.'

'I think Buckingham Palace would love it. You should task someone to investigate the girl Virginia Roberts, that has caused the Queen's son all this agro (sic).

'I promise you she is a fraud. You and I will be able to go to ascot (sic) for the rest of our lives.'

When the journalist expressed some interest in the story, a further email from Epstein on the same day claimed that her story has 'no credibility' and it was 'total horses****'.

It continues: '...she was never 15 years old working for me, her story made it seem like she first worked for trump (sic) at that age and was met by ghislaine maxwell (sic).'

He concludes: 'I will ask if they will cooperate - Prince people.'

Andrew and his allies have long questioned the authenticity of the damning picture taken by Epstein of the then prince and Giuffre at Maxwell's London home in 2001.

The image has become the enduring symbol of Ms Giuffre's shocking allegations before she took her own life in April this year.

She claimed was forced to have sex with Andrew at Maxwell's townhouse - where the picture was taken - as well as at Epstein's address in Manhattan and on his private Caribbean island of Little St James.

Andrew, in his disastrous 2019 Newsnight interview, denied ever meeting Giuffre in London and claimed the image might have been doctored.

Maxwell, too dismissed the image as fake in a recent interview from prison, while Andew's allies insisted his fingers were 'chubbier' and he was taller than depicted.

The latest revelations will heap fresh humiliation on Andrew, who has already been stripped of his royal titles by the King and forced to retreat from public life.

Continuing scrutiny over the former Duke and Duchess of York links to Epstein will also see them lose the palatial Royal Lodge on the Windsor estate they have occupied for over two decades.

Andrew is also under pressure to explain the full nature of his relationship with Epstein with members of the US Congress demanded he appear before them to 'come clean and provide justice for the survivors'.

The 23,000-page email release also pulled former US ambassador Lord Mandelson deeper into the scandal with messages showing he was still in contact with Epstein as late as 2016 - years after his conviction.

The correspondence shows that Lord Mandelson took relationship advice from the paedophile and urged him to steer clear of Andrew.

In one email from Epstein to Lord Mandelson on 6 November 2016, he writes '63 years old. You made it' not long after his birthday.

Lord Mandelson replies within hours saying: 'Just. I have decided to extend my life by spending more of it in the US' before Epstein replies 'in the Donald White House' referring to the US presidential election due later that week.

Epstein goes on to say 'you were right about staying away from Andrew. I was right in your staying with Rinaldo [sic]', a reference to Lord Mandelson's partner Reinaldo Avilda da Silva.

In another exchange in March 2011, an email shows Lord Mandelson urging Epstein not to do a BBC interview about his links to Andrew.

After being forwarded a request from BBC Radio 4's Today to interview Epstein about 'stories which are circulating,' about him and Andrew, Mandelson replied. 'No!!'.

Mandelson was until recently the UK's ambassador to Washington, but was sacked over his close friendship with the convicted paedophile.

Mandelson has sought to distance himself from Epstein saying he felt 'utterly awful about my association with Epstein 20 years ago'.

But the latest disclosures show his association with the sex offender continued much later – and into 2016.

Until now the last reported contact between the pair had been in March 2010, when the then-business secretary took advice from Epstein in a banking deal, just months after his release from prison for child sex offences.