By CAROLINE GRAHAM and MARK HOOKHAM, ASSISTANT EDITOR (INVESTIGATIONS)

Prince Andrew embroiled the Metropolitan Police and one of Queen Elizabeth's most senior aides in a campaign to smear his teenage sex accuser, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

A bombshell email obtained by this newspaper exposes how Andrew asked his taxpayer-funded Met bodyguard to investigate Virginia Giuffre and passed him her date of birth and confidential social security number.

Astonishingly, Andrew then told Ed Perkins, Queen Elizabeth's deputy press secretary that he had asked one of his personal protection officers - part of the Met's elite SO14 Royal Protection Group - to dig up information about Ms Giuffre.

He emailed Perkins hours before this newspaper first published the infamous picture of the duke with 17-year-old Ms Giuffre, which would ultimately bring about his downfall.

'It would also seem she has a criminal record in the [United] States,' he wrote. 'I have given her DoB [date of birth] and social security number for investigation with XXX, the on duty ppo [personal protection officer].'

It is not suggested that the officer complied with the prince's request, or that she did, in fact, have a criminal record. Details of the shocking email comes a day after Andrew was forced to relinquish all of his remaining titles following new and hugely damaging revelations in last week's MoS about his friendship with paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

In a humiliating blow, Andrew will no longer be known as the Duke of York and is stepping down from membership of the Order of the Garter, the country's most ancient order of chivalry.

Tonight Ms Giuffre's family said the new evidence 'exposes the lengths to which those implicated try to discredit and defame survivors. The truth will surface and there will be no shadows in which they can hide.'

Virginia Giuffre pictured in Australia in 2011

Virginia Giuffre photographed with Prince Andrew and Ghislaine Maxwell in London in 2001

Andrew pictured with Jeffrey Epstein in New York's Central Park in 2011

They renewed their request to King Charles to strip Andrew of his title of Prince, adding: 'We also request a full investigation as to how Prince Andrew obtained our sister Virginia's private information.'

Andrew tonight refused to explain how he obtained Ms Giuffre's nine-digit US social security number - described as 'the key to someone's life, required for opening bank accounts, applying for loans and getting a driver's licence or passport.

The Met this weekend faced calls to launch an investigation. Solicitor Mark Stephens, an expert in data and privacy at law firm Howard Kennedy, said: 'It seems to me that there are reasons to investigate whether a criminal conspiracy has occurred here and I suspect the public will want that investigation.'

Prominent barrister Charlotte Proudman branded Prince Andrew's actions 'utterly despicable and reprehensible' and said 'there could be legal implications for Andrew'.

She added: 'This shows Prince Andrew using his connections, including the police who are paid for by the taxpayer, in an attempt to dig up dirt on a survivor of sex trafficking. It is just despicable. It certainly seems like a breach of her right to privacy and to protect her data from being misused and mishandled. This should be investigated.'

Spencer Kuvin, a lawyer who represented nine of Epstein's victims, said: 'Smearing a survivor is the oldest play in the handbook. It is despicable that Andrew fails to take accountability for his actions. Hopefully the authorities will look into his actions and prosecute him for any laws he may have broken.'

David Boies, who represented Ms Giuffre, said: 'At this point, I think Prince Andrew has suffered enough, but the Metropolitan Police owe Epstein's victims an accounting.'

The Met declined to comment.

Ms Giuffre, who took her own life earlier this year, claimed that paedophile Epstein trafficked her to London and forced her to have sex with the Duke - allegations Andrew has repeatedly and vehemently denied

Sarah Ferguson attends the traditional Easter Sunday Mattins Service at St George's Chapel on Easter Sunday earlier this year. Epstein claimed he bankrolled Fergie for 15 years

In a memoir to be published this week, Ms Giuffre, who was abused by Epstein for four years, claimed that Andrew 'believed having sex with me was his birthright'.

Andrew's email to Mr Perkins is one of a series of explosive disclosures contained within a cache of emails currently with the US Congress that have been obtained exclusively by the MoS. The 'Epstein files' also reveal:

Epstein set Andrew up on a dinner date with a woman who claims the paedophile sexually abused her for years;Andrew admitted to Epstein that it was possible he met Ms Giuffre and there could be a photograph - despite later declaring 'I don't remember meeting her at all'.l The Duchess of York, and her daughters, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, were the first people to visit Epstein after his release from jail for child sex offences, according to Epstein;The paedophile financier claimed he bankrolled Sarah Ferguson for 15 years; Fergie begged Epstein to lend her up to $100,000 while he was still under house arrest and pleaded to be allowed to visit his notorious private Caribbean island;

Ex-Minister Peter Mandelson warned Epstein his relationship with the Yorks would end badly.

Epstein's mugshot taken in March 2017

Ms Giuffre's family said: 'These outrageous emails are further vindication of Virginia. It underscores her courage and her strength as a truth teller.

The Epstein Files provide an extraordinary insight into Andrew and Epstein's reaction in February 2011 after this newspaper approached the duke for comment following an interview our correspondent Sharon Churcher had conducted with Ms Giuffre.

Ms Giuffre, then known as Virginia Roberts, told Churcher how she was introduced to the duke during a six-week trip to Europe in March 2001 and produced a picture of her with him that had been taken in Maxwell's house in Belgravia. She also alleged she had sex with Andrew on three occasions while a teenager, but for legal reasons the MoS could not publish her claims.

On February 25, two days before we published our story, a furious Andrew emailed Epstein and complained that the MoS was 'just gratuitously trying it on.'

The following day Mr Perkins emailed Andrew the picture of him with his arm around with Ms Giuffre, which the MoS had agreed to share on the ground it was not shown to any person other than the duke.

At 3.09pm Andrew emailed Mr Perkins saying: 'I've just had a short conversation with Ghislaine [Maxwell] and she says VR [Virginia Roberts] is a lying so and so, paraphrasing, but this is consistent with what JE [Jeffrey Epstein] says.'

Andrew did not question the authenticity of the photograph. although he later told BBC Newsnight that he had 'no recollection' of ever meeting Ms Giuffre and suggested the picture could be fake.

In response to the prince,, Mr Perkins wrote 'Indeed Sir. All received. Awaiting their response now. Lawyers primed.'

Ms Giuffre in 2011. Andrew handed over her social security number and date of birth to one of his Royal close protection officers

Andrew at the Order of the Garter service at St George's Chapel in Windsor in June 2019

The former duke then told Mr Perkins that he believed Ms Giuffre had a criminal record in America and that he had handed over her social security number and date of birth to one of his Royal close protection officers.

Less than three hours later Andrew forwarded his emails with Mr Perkins to Epstein and simply wrote 'latest'.

A legal source tonight told the MoS: 'How did Andrew obtain Virginia's social security number? Was it obtained legally? In the US everyone has a number as it is essential for any interaction with the government. So if Andrew passed it on to someone in the Met they could have unlocked her whole world.'

The emails reveal that in the following days Epstein made several suggestions to Andrew about how to undermine Ms Giuffre's credibility.

On February 28, Epstein told Andrew: 'I am also getting a statement from the judge in another of [Virginia's] sex allegations that says she lacks credibility ... should have that this afternoon.'

In another email to Andrew on March 6 Epstein wrote: 'We can start by pointing out that Virginia fled the country after a warrant had been issued for her arrest for stealing $300 from the restaurant she was working at as a waitress...police report available.'

Ms Giuffre's family said she did not have a criminal record.

Raised primarily in Florida, Giuffre had a deeply troubled childhood. She said she was abused by a family friend, triggering a downward spiral that led to her living on the streets for a time as a teenager. In a harrowing comment, she told Churcher: 'I was a paedophile's dream.'

Epstein pictured at a New York magazine launch in 2005

She was working as a locker-room assistant at Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida when she met Maxwell, who invited her to work as Epstein's personal masseuse. She was abused by Epstein from 1999 to 2002, she claimed, and trafficked to have sex with wealthy and powerful men.

The Epstein Files show how an arrogant Andrew initially appeared nonplussed by the publication of our story and its bombshell picture of him with 17-year-old Ms Giuffre.

'Good morning from a very dull London,' he wrote to Epstein at 4.31am on February 28.

'I am afraid that I haven't read any of the Mail articles. I don't on principle. But I will be discussing with my team today any further action to be taken in light of another in today's Mail as well.'

Later that morning Andrew's tone in another email to Epstein was more downcast.

'We have had a discussion this morning and we are somewhat at a loss as to how to deal with this as it is now innuendo rather than substantive allegations, notwithstanding anything false they have said about you or Ghislaine.

'No one else has even sparked at the story over here, which is a good thing.'

The duke's relief would be short-Newsnight interview about his links to Epstein, Andrew announced he was stepping back from his royal duties.

On Friday when he was forced to relinquish his remaining titles, after this newspaper disclosed last week how Andrew secretly told paedophile Epstein 'we are in this together' 12 weeks after he had supposedly cut all ties with him.

Welcoming the Duke's downfall, Ms Giuffre's brother Sky Roberts: 'We've shed a lot of happy and sad tears. I think happy because in a lot of ways this vindicates Virginia.'

During his car-crash BBC interview Andrew famously refused to express any regret about his friendship with Epstein because of the 'opportunities that I was given to learn either by him or because of him.'

The MoS emails, however, reveal it was not a sentiment shared by Epstein.

Writing in 2015 to Peter Mandelson, who was sacked in September as Britain's ambassador to the US over his links to the sex offender, Epstein said: 'I guess you were right that my association / friendship with Andrew would come to no good deed.'

Prince Andrew declined to comment tonight.

Andrew told Met to dig up dirt on Virginia Giuffre