Prince Andrew photo with Virginia Giuffre is real, reports claim

Evidence has emerged allegedly proving the infamous picture of Prince Andrew with his accuser Virginia Roberts Giuffre is real, according to reports.

The photograph of Prince Andrew, 62, with his arm wrapped around Ms Giuffre is said to have been taken on March 10, 2001, the night the Duke is first alleged to have sexually abused her.

It was first published in the Mail on Sunday (MoS) in 2011 and the paper is said to have paid Ms Giuffre $140,000 to publish it, plus $20,000 for two interviews.

Last year, she said the photograph was not in her possession but a source close to her legal team insisted this did not mean it had been lost.

Now, the newspaper claims it can prove the picture was printed at a one-hour photo lab in Florida and would have been “virtually impossible” to fake.

The MoS alleges the back of the photo has a time stamp showing it was developed on March 13, 2001 – three days after the Duke is claimed to have forced Ms Giuffre into having sex.

The store where the photograph was developed is a Walgreens – a US pharmacy chain – a two-minute drive from Ms Giuffre’s former home in West Palm beach, Florida, the paper also claims.

It was previously understood a photographer for the newspaper took a series of photographs of the original image.

The MoS now says it has unearthed camera data that proves photographer Michael Thomas took 39 copies of the image, both front and back.

Prince Andrew and Ghislaine Maxwell previously suggested the picture could have been altered digitally.

But Mr Thomas brands the claims as “ridiculous” and “absurd”.

The photo, reportedly taken at Maxwell’s London home, shows the Duke with his arm around Ms Giuffre and Maxwell smiling in the background.

Last week, Maxwell claimed in a TV interview from prison that the picture is “fake”. “I don’t believe it’s real for a second, in fact I am sure it’s not. There has never been an original and further there is no photograph,” she said.

The Duke told BBC Newsnight in 2019: “You can’t prove whether or not that photograph is faked because it’s a photograph of a photograph of a photograph.”

He added: “That’s me but whether that’s my hand… I have simply no recollection of the photograph ever being taken.”

Mr Thomas kept the copies he took of the photo in 2011 on a hard drive in his home office, near Queenstown in New Zealand. After hearing repeated claims that the picture was fake he decided to “kill the conspiracy theory once and for all”, according to the MoS.

Upon checking his archives of photos he discovered he had taken three separate shots of the back of the picture, showing the date it was developed.

“I’d like this all to be put to bed. I don’t want every six months to get emails from people saying it’s fake. Hopefully people can stop dealing in conspiracies,” Mr Thomas said.

The Duke and Ms Giuffre were approached for comment.