AAllegations about Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s links to Jeffrey Epstein have surfaced over the years – and in many films. Here’s how they entered the public consciousness and put pressure on the royal family.
An ‘innocent non-descript’ film
It was taken in 2001, but it didn’t become public for another decade. The fall will continue for a long time.
Pictured (above) – Epstein, of Mountbatten-Windsor, put his arm around 17-year-old Virginia Giuffre, and now-convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell stood by their side – and Andrew, who spent years denying Andrew, was put in a room with the girl she abused as a minor.
Former sex crimes prosecutor Wendy Murphy said it was a “naive inexplicable” pose. For years, Andrew insisted that he believed the film was doctored. Emails released with the Epstein files this year appear to contradict that.
In 2022, Mountbatten-Windsor settled a civil case brought by Giuffre in New York alleging that he had sexually assaulted her on three occasions, although he has not admitted liability and has always denied Giuffre’s allegations.
A walk in the park
“What’s 4th in line to the throne meeting a convicted sex offender… even if he’s a billionaire?” asked a subhead on page seven of the News of the World on 20 February 2011. The story is based on a 2010 film of Mountbatten-Windsor walking around New York with Epstein.
This is a reasonable question. It is hard to imagine that Mountbatten-Windsor missed the news of the financier’s conviction and imprisonment for soliciting prostitution from a minor two years before the meeting.
Mountbatten-Windsor’s reply when asked by Emily Maitlis eight years after the photograph appeared was that he had visited Espteen to break contact; It was an honorable thing to tell him in person.
His story was undermined in 2011 when it was revealed he had emailed Epstein after Giuffre published the photograph: “We’re in this together”. In an email that came to light last year, Mountbatten-Windsor wrote: “Keep in touch and we’ll be playing some more soon.”
The Woman on the floor
When the US Justice Department released a cache of more than 3 million documents related to the Epstein case last month, images emerged of Mountbatten-Windsor bending over an unidentified woman lying on the floor.
In one, he can be seen with his hand on the female’s stomach. In another, a smiling Mountbatten-Windsor is seen kneeling above her. He is looking at the camera and has his hands on either side of her torso. The images are undated, have no captions or reference to indicate where they were taken, and do not indicate fault.
arrest
“Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, younger brother of Britain’s King Charles, formerly known as Prince Andrew, leaves Aylsham police station in a vehicle on the day he was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office,” reads a Reuters headline.
This is a very bald statement, but it has centuries of history behind it. It is, after all, the first royal to be arrested since Charles I in 1647.
Photographer Phil Noble took the picture after being held by Mountbatten-Windsor police for more than 10 hours and released under investigation.
“He took a total of six frames – two showing the police, two blank, one out of focus,” Reuters said. “But one captures the unprecedented nature of the moment: for the first time in modern history, a senior member of the royal family is being treated as a common criminal.”
