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Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor asked Jeffrey Epstein’s fixer Ghislaine Maxwell to arrange meetings with “inappropriate friends” while she sought “friendly and discreet and fun” girls on his behalf, the latest documents from the Epstein files appear to show.
The largest release yet of files concerning the financier and convicted child sex offender – which also raise fresh questions for the US president, Donald Trump – include emails in the name of “A” exchanging detailed messages with Maxwell that appeared to identify the author as Andrew.
The emails from 2001 and 2002 appear to give further insights into the relationship between the former prince and Epstein, which has been under scrutiny since it emerged in 2011.
The files also show that the FBI sought to question Mountbatten-Windsor about his links to a second millionaire sex offender, Peter Nygard.
In October, Mountbatten-Windsor said of claims about his links with Epstein: “I vigorously deny the accusations against me.” He did not immediately respond to requests for comment about the new files.
Other significant disclosures in the US Department of Justice release include:
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Emails recording that Britain’s Metropolitan police contacted the FBI last month to inquire whether there were any ongoing investigations related to the disgraced former prince’s association with Epstein.
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Emails showing US lawyers claiming “various factual inaccuracies” in a statement provided on Andrew’s behalf during their investigation of Epstein.
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Multiple references to Donald Trump, including a claim by a senior US attorney that Trump was on a flight in the 1990s with Epstein and a 20-year-old woman. There is no indication of whether the woman was a victim of any crime, and Trump has consistently denied wrongdoing.
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An image of a card purportedly written by Epstein to Larry Nassar, the US gymnastics team doctor jailed for life in January 2018 for sexually abusing hundreds of girls, which says: “Our president also shares our love of young, nubile girls.” A postmark on the envelope indicates it was processed three days after Epstein’s death in August 2019.
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Files featuring redactions that were found to be removable through Photoshop techniques or simply highlighting text to paste into a word processing file.
Mountbatten-Windsor has cut a largely secluded figure since it emerged in October that he was to be stripped of his royal titles and would have to move out of his home at the Royal Lodge in Windsor.
He has been dogged by allegations over his relationship with Epstein since 2011, when he accepted a downgrading of his role as a trade envoy months after coming under severe criticism over his ties to the billionaire. That came after an undated photo emerged showing him with his arm around the waist of Virginia Giuffre, then 17, with Maxwell beaming to one side.
Among the latest tranche of Epstein files are email exchanges in 2001 and 2002 between Maxwell, now serving a 20-year prison sentence for sex-trafficking crimes, and a correspondent who appears as “The Invisible Man” in the email thread, signs off as “A” and says he is writing from Balmoral, the royal residence in the Scottish Highlands.
“Have you found me some new inappropriate friends?” says A in one email to Maxwell on 16 August 2001.
Maxwell responded a day later, saying: “So sorry to disappoint you. However, the truth must be told. I have only been able to find appropriate friends.”
The same email exchanges include mentions by A of leaving the “RN” in that year – an apparent reference to Andrew’s departure from the Royal Navy. They also refer to the death in August 2001 of the valet who had served him since he was a child.
Later, in February and March 2002, there is an exchange in which Maxwell forwards correspondence with a third party, Juan Estaban Ganoza, about arrangements for a trip to Peru that include setting up meetings with “girls”. The forwarded message says: “I just gave Andrew your telephone no.” A replies: “I will ring him today if I can.”
“About the girls … how old is he?” asks Ganoza. In the reply, A says: “I am overwhelmed at the kindness and generosity of the offers that are being made for me.”
He adds: “As for girls well I leave that entirely to you and Juan Estoban!”
Maxwell’s forwarded message also asked for help arranging “two-legged sight-seeing” with “intelligent pretty fun” girls from “good families” to make Andrew “very happy”. She added: “I know I can rely on you to show him a wonderful time and that you will only introduce him to friends that you can trust and rely on to be friendly and discreet and fun.”
Photographs taken soon afterwards show Mountbatten-Windsor on an official visit to Peru.
The latest releases are likely to reignite calls for Mountbatten-Windsor to assist with the attempts in the US to get justice for Epstein’s victims. They follow the release last week of photographs showing Andrew laying on the laps of women whose identities have been redacted at Sandringham, the royal estate in Norfolk, with Maxwell smiling in the background. There is no suggestion that the photograph is evidence of any crime.
Keir Starmer last month increased the pressure on Mountbatten-Windsor to cooperate with a congressional investigation into Epstein, saying those who are caught up in child sexual offence cases should disclose any information they have.
In Washington DC, the Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, called on Tuesday for the US justice department to release details on “at least 10 potential Jeffrey Epstein co-conspirators” it was looking at and why it did not prosecute.
