Newly released files renew scrutiny on Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor's links to Jeffrey Epstein and Peter Nygard. Photo / Getty Images
The latest batch of Jeffrey Epstein files have cast renewed scrutiny on the links between Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and Epstein – a relationship that has already sent the former prince into what is widely seen as royal exile.
Among the newly released material is an email sent from “A” who writes that he is at the royal residence of Balmoral in Scotland, and asking Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell whether she had found him some “new inappropriate friends”.
The documents also include emails and court filings of US authorities seeking to interview the former prince in connection with two separate criminal investigations: one relating to Epstein and another involving Peter Nygard, the Canadian fashion tycoon accused of sexually assaulting multiple women and girls.
Andrew has repeatedly denied all wrongdoing.
In a 22-page formal request dated April 3, 2020, from the Justice Department, federal prosecutors in New York and the FBI asked UK authorities to assist in arranging a voluntary interview with Andrew. US authorities requested that if Andrew declined, that UK officials then “conduct a compelled interview of the witness under oath”.
The request states that investigators wanted to question Andrew over allegations involving Nygard, including claims of an “an international sex trafficking ring victimising adult women and minor girls” at the Canadian’s estate in the Bahamas, known as “Nygard Cay”.
According to the document, “the investigation has revealed that, on at least one occasion, Prince Andrew travelled to Nygard Cay in the Bahamas, a location where Nygard is believed to have trafficked minor and adult female victims”.
US authorities said they wanted to question Andrew about his visits there, as well as any information he might have about Nygard and related individuals. They also said they wanted to ask Andrew whether he “observed any females who appeared to be, or stated that they were, under the age of 18 years old, and the names of any of those females”.
The document stressed that Andrew was not a target of the investigations and that US authorities had not gathered evidence that he had committed any crime under US law. Nygard was convicted of sexual assault by a Canadian jury in 2023.
US authorities also sought to question Andrew in connection with the Epstein investigation. The request states that “documentary evidence uncovered during the course of this investigation has revealed information suggesting that Prince Andrew had knowledge that Maxwell recruited females to engage in sex acts with Epstein and other men”.
It further states that there is “evidence that Prince Andrew engaged in sexual conduct involving one of Epstein’s victims”, while again noting that he was not a target and that investigation had not concluded he had committed a crime under US law.
While it has been previously reported before that US authorities wanted to interview Andrew, the newly released document makes clear that investigators wanted to question him about two then ongoing criminal investigations and detailed the specific areas they wanted to explore. He was never questioned by US authorities.
The files also include material from a Florida court case brought under the Crime Victims’ Rights Act. In that case, a woman identified as “Jane Doe #3” – widely understood to be Virginia Giuffre – alleged that she was trafficked as a teenager by Epstein and forced to have sex with Andrew on three occasions: in London, New York, and on Epstein’s private island in the US Virgin Islands. Andrew settled a civil case with Giuffre without an admission of liability in 2022.
The files also include email exchanges from early 2020 between US prosecutors and Andrew’s lawyer, documenting weeks of back-and-forth over a proposed interview with Andrew. Andrew’s team repeatedly said he wanted to co-operate but never committed to a conversation between prosecutors and their client.
Shortly after a 2019 interview with BBC’s Newsnight that was widely seen as disastrous for the prince at the time, Andrew said in a news release that he was “willing to help any appropriate law enforcement agency with their investigations, if required”.
At the end of January 2020 – and after a month of back-and-forth emails between lawyers – Geoffrey Berman, then US attorney for Southern District of New York, made a public statement saying that Andrew had provided “zero co-operation”. His lawyers disputed that characterisation.
The files include emails from Maxwell to someone who signed off as “A” and from an address that used the alias “The Invisible Man”.
In an August 2001 message, “A” wrote: “I am up here at Balmoral Summer Camp for the Royal Family,” referring to a royal residence of then-Queen Elizabeth II.
He added: “How’s LA? Have you found me some new inappropriate friends? Let me know when you are coming over as I am free from 25th August until 2nd Sept and want to go somewhere hot and sunny with some fun people before having to put my nose firmly to the grindstone for the Fall.”
Maxwell replied that she had found only “appropriate friends,” prompting A to respond “Distraught!” The email went on to describe how the writer had just lost his valet. “He had been with me since I was 2. I am a little off balance.”
The writer also noted that he had left the “RN” – Andrew had left the Royal Navy earlier in the year. “My whole life is in turmoil as I have no one to look after me,” the writer said.
The controversy surrounding Andrew’s links to Epstein eventually led his brother King Charles III to strip him of his prince title and required him to vacate the Royal Lodge.
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