“Time to put something back into me before the rest of the world starts sucking it out in all their greed and demands,” he added in an email that forms part of the latest disclosures released by the US Department of Justice.

Andrew was in a buoyant mood, thanking Epstein for apparently helping to resolve a problem involving unpaid wages owed by his ex-wife, Sarah. He added that he was about to go on his “annual retreat for the next eight days”. Almost as an aside, the correspondence was dated February 2011 — further undermining Andrew’s repeated assurances that he had cut off all contact with Epstein the previous year.

The public response may once again be a collective eye-roll: here we go again. More unedifying photographs and words. More revelations that tarnish character and reputation. It scarcely gets worse for Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. One image shows him on all fours — an uncomfortably apt metaphor for the current state of his reputation.

As for where this saga might ultimately lead, the latest batch of emails makes clear how persistently US authorities tried, behind the scenes, to persuade Andrew to provide evidence about Epstein. In early 2020, there were multiple email exchanges in which an increasingly frustrated Department of Justice sought clarity on when Andrew would honour his public commitment to assist with inquiries into Epstein’s activities.

“Please advise as to whether Prince Andrew will agree to be interviewed and, if so, when such interview will take place,” a Department of Justice investigative team wrote in February 2020 in correspondence with Andrew’s lawyers.

In the event, a combination of legal stonewalling and the onset of the pandemic appears to have stalled the process. Nevertheless, the possibility of renewed pressure from the US to provide evidence remains, particularly after Democrats in Congress requested his testimony last year.

Andrew has consistently and emphatically denied any wrongdoing, and his office has been contacted for comment. On Saturday, he was photographed driving his car and riding a horse in Windsor, images published by MailOnline.  (BBC)