At one point she wrote to him: “I asked you not to bombard me and yet you send me thousands of emails.”

In a further twist, the prince wrote a message on his Facebook account at the weekend, saying he wanted to “publicly apologise to my partner Tanya Yashenko for my false statements. I would like to explain that jealousy is a big reason for my actions. But the gifts I gave I don’t want back.”

The aristocrat, who was educated in the US, added: “My Italian isn’t good considering I’ve lived abroad all my life. I apologise for my mistakes.”

In a second message on Facebook, posted on Sunday, the prince wrote: “I love her. A flower that makes me feel calm. I’m a lucky man.”

But his lawyer said those statements should not be taken at face value. The prince was under huge pressure from Ms Yashenko, said Armando Fergola.

“She continues to try to manipulate him. He has certainly not withdrawn his accusations and will not do so,” he told The Telegraph.

“He is still very fragile and the love affair has clouded his judgment. The primary aim of this case is to protect him from her, both psychologically and economically. Getting her to pay back the money is a secondary objective.”