Questions have been raised over Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s continued residence on royal property after a newly released photograph showed him reclining across the laps of several women.
The image, which has been reported to have been taken in the saloon room at Sandringham, the King’s royal estate in Norfolk, shows Mountbatten-Windsor with convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell and several women whose faces have been redacted.
It was among a tranche of photographs and documents released by the US Department of Justice (DoJ) on Friday and adds to scrutiny over Mountbatten-Windsor’s connection to paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein. Mountbatten-Windsor has always denied any wrongdoing.
It comes amid reports that Mountbatten-Windsor has been moved from the Royal Lodge, his former 30-room Windsor mansion, to a farmhouse on the Sandringham estate in need of refurbishment.
With his titles and access already removed by King Charles in recent months, his living arrangements would be the final lever left to pull to create distance from his disgraced brother.
John Burke, a barrister at Legis Chambers in London who previously served as an assistant district attorney in Massachusetts, said allowing Mountbatten-Windsor to continue to live within the royal estate is the “last thing remaining” that could be cut off.
US lawyers representing hundreds of Epstein victims have told BBC News that it is “shocking” that there has never been a “full-scale UK investigation” into Epstein’s activities in Britain.
Earlier this month, a BBC investigation revealed that almost 90 flights linked to the deceased sex offender arrived at and departed from UK airports, including some with British women who say they were abused by the billionaire on board.
The 300,000 documents released by the DoJ, known as the Epstein files, also included photographs of Mountbatten-Windsor’s ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, Donald Trump, former US president Bill Clinton and the late singer Michael Jackson.
Simply appearing in the photos or documents is not evidence of wrongdoing.
What does this mean for the Royal Family?
The latest image of Mountbatten-Windsor raises questions over who the women are and the nature of the event at Sandringham – but it does not alone provide evidence of criminality.
Details in the photograph match those in other images taken in the saloon room at Sandringham House, including the fireplace and clock in the background.But the image has been redacted, meaning it is not clear who the women are or when it was taken.
Burke, who previously served as an assistant district attorney in Massachusetts, said the image raises “some concerns within the Royal Family, certainly that Mountbatten-Windsor was using his position to give access to people who were involved in something this sinister”.
However, he said there is no evidence to suggest this was known to the Royal Family at the time.
Burke said: “If they knew then what Epstein was up to, of course, they wouldn’t want Mountbatten-Windsor to bring people like that around, or wouldn’t want Mountbatten-Windsor himself to be around,” Burke added.
“He’s just become an embarrassment to the Royal Family, and we hadn’t seen that level of embarrassment in years.”
Mountbatten-Windsor previously reached a multi-million-pound deal with Virginia Giuffre, who accused him of sexually abusing her when she was a minor, including when she was 17 at Maxwell’s home in London. Mountbatten-Windsor has always denied the allegations.
Giuffre died by suicide in April, but a memoir published posthumously in October detailed several allegations, including that the former prince acted as if having sex with her was his “birthright”.
Will the UK police investigate?
Burke said there is “nothing” in the photo alone to trigger a police investigation into the event.
“The UK authorities would be under an obligation to investigate only where there’s some evidence of criminality, and at the moment, there isn’t,” Burke told The i Paper.
He said: “Whilst it corroborates the relationship with Ms Maxwell and her access to Royal properties through that relationship, there is nothing in the photo which triggers UK authorities to investigate.”
He added that the DoJ failed to explain each redaction, meaning it is unclear whether the women’s faces have been blacked out because they are thought to be victims, or simply because it is not known who they are.
What’s next for Mountbatten-Windsor?
Mountbatten-Windsor has reportedly been evicted from his residence at the Royal Lodge in Windsor and exiled to a property on the Sandringham estate called Marsh Farm.
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It comes after he was stripped of his remaining royal titles and honours in October.
“The last thing remaining is whether or not his brother, the King, should be covering his stay in Sandringham,” said Burke. “I suppose that’s the last thing he could pull.”
But he added that the Royal Family has already “got ahead of this”, saying: “I think they’ve done all that can be done, taking away every single title he’s ever had, taking away his access.”
Buckingham Palace declined to comment.
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