Police Scotland Examines Prince Andrew's 1999 Balmoral Visit With Epstein
Officers opened inquiries into claims that women were trafficked to the king's Scottish estate while the U.S. Justice Department released photographs of the 1999 gathering.
By Arjun Tanaka ·
Police Scotland has begun reviewing the time Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor spent with Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell at the Balmoral estate in the Scottish Highlands in 1999. The force said Friday that the inquiry was at a “very early stage” and declined to detail the offenses under examination.
The Daily Express, which first reported the probe, said the questions concern allegations that women were trafficked to King Charles III’s private estate. Police Scotland said its work is “evidence-led, with the needs of victim survivors at the heart of those inquiries,” adding that it would not comment further on active investigations.
Photographs released by the U.S. Department of Justice appeared to show Epstein and Maxwell on a shooting trip at Balmoral in 1999. The images were among millions of pages of records the department published earlier this year while Congress examined Epstein’s contacts with politicians, business leaders and other prominent people. The presence of a name or image in those files does not establish wrongdoing.
Other U.K. forces are also reviewing material from the files. Thames Valley Police arrested Mountbatten-Windsor in February on suspicion of misconduct in public office over information in the Epstein files; he was held for several hours and released on bail pending further inquiry. The Metropolitan Police Service in London and Surrey Police have also examined material from the files. Mountbatten-Windsor, 66, has denied committing any crime.
Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to soliciting a minor for prostitution. Virginia Giuffre alleged in 2011 that Epstein trafficked her and that she was forced to have sex with Mountbatten-Windsor when she was 17. He gave a lengthy BBC interview in 2019 that drew criticism over his account of the events.
Late last year, King Charles III stripped his brother of his princely title and directed him to leave the Royal Lodge near Windsor Castle. Mountbatten-Windsor now lives at Sandringham in eastern England.
Source: KXAS-TV
