King Charles III on Monday said Buckingham Palace is ready to back Thames Valley Police in its assessment of allegations linked to the former Prince Andrew and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, as fresh reporting and U.S. court-related document releases kept the royal family under scrutiny.
Buckingham Palace said Charles is prepared to “support” the police if approached, while noting that the specific claims are for Mountbatten-Windsor to address. In the palace statement, the monarchy said the king has made clear “in words and through unprecedented actions” his “profound concern” about allegations that continue to surface regarding Mountbatten-Windsor’s conduct, and that the palace would respond in a supportive way consistent with how it would in other policing matters.
Thames Valley Police said it was “assessing” reports that Mountbatten-Windsor—now known as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and no longer a working royal—sent trade reports to Epstein in 2010. The force, which serves an area west of London that includes Mountbatten-Windsor’s former home, previously said it was evaluating allegations that Epstein flew a young woman to Britain to have sex with Mountbatten-Windsor in 2010, according to the AP report.
The palace also reiterated Charles and Queen Camilla’s concern for the victims of Epstein’s abuse. The statement said the royal couple’s “thoughts and sympathies have been, and remain with, the victims of any and all forms of abuse,” a passage Buckingham Palace used again amid the latest developments.
Earlier in the day, Prince William and Princess Catherine released their own statement saying they have been “deeply concerned” by recent revelations, the AP reported. The palace message was presented as the latest step in distancing the royal family from Mountbatten-Windsor as the Justice Department released more than 3 million pages of documents from its Epstein investigation, according to AP.
The renewed attention came alongside scrutiny of the king’s decision-making regarding Mountbatten-Windsor’s role within the monarchy. The AP reported that Charles last week forced Mountbatten-Windsor to move out of Royal Lodge ahead of schedule, and that he is now living on the king’s Sandringham estate, with Wood Farm Cottage listed as a temporary home while repairs continue.
Concerns about Mountbatten-Windsor’s connections to Epstein have dogged the royal family for more than a decade, AP reported. The late Queen Elizabeth II forced him to give up royal duties and end his charitable work in 2019 after an interview with the BBC in which he tried to explain away his friendship with Epstein. After additional details emerged in a book published last year, Charles stripped Mountbatten-Windsor of the right to be called a prince and ordered him to move out of a royal residence close to Windsor Castle.
AP also reported that the Justice Department documents have drawn particular attention to Mountbatten-Windsor in part because they include dozens of email exchanges between him and Epstein, many of them occurring after Epstein was convicted of soliciting a minor for prostitution in 2008. Correspondence unearthed in recent days, according to the report, appears to show Mountbatten-Windsor sent Epstein copies of reports from a 2010 tour of Southeast Asia as Britain’s envoy for international trade, and shared his itinerary for a trip that included stops in Hanoi, Saigon, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Hong Kong.
Thames Valley Police said it can confirm receipt of at least one report and is assessing the information using established procedures. Separate from the police assessment described by AP, a U.S.-based attorney said Feb. 1 that he represents a woman who alleges Epstein flew her to Britain to have sex with Mountbatten-Windsor, the AP report said, citing an interview with the BBC in which the attorney described the encounter taking place at Royal Lodge.
The latest inquiry, AP reported, began after Graham Smith, chief executive of Republic, an anti-monarchy group, reported Mountbatten-Windsor for suspected abuse of public office and violations of Britain’s Official Secrets Act. Smith compared Mountbatten-Windsor’s correspondence with Epstein to earlier revelations about Peter Mandelson, Britain’s former ambassador to the U.S., who is already the subject of a police investigation into whether he shared sensitive information with Epstein; Smith said on social media he “cannot see any significant difference between these allegations and those against Peter Mandelson.”