If you care to visit the Epstein Library and put Prince Charles – as he then was – into its search engine, you will find 61 entries under the name of the now ruler of the United Kingdom.
This is not particularly noteworthy: hardly anyone of significant profile from the worlds of royalty, celebrity, politics, high finance and global business are not referenced within the 3.5 million documents in the files relating to the life and works of the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. (For reference, the New York Times reports that Donald Trump is referenced on 38,000 occasions.)
All the mentions of Charles are, as far as I can see, innocuous, ranging from a message to Epstein from his publicist to say that the film producer Harvey Weinstein was trying to get Charles to see his film The King’s Speech to a bizarre email chain in which a journalist friend of Epstein’s mentions going to an awards do alongside Charles, Borat comedian Sacha Baron Cohen and actress and activist Rose McGowan.
The rest of the mentions of Charles are mainly extracts from newspaper articles referring to him and his activities. But, as more documents come under the public gaze, there will inevitably be the discovery of connections with wider interest and import.
And so it is that we find something of a jaw-dropper this morning. In 2011, receiving an email from an associate (whose name is redacted) discussing Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s departure from his job as a British trade envoy, Epstein responds: “I assume he knows that this is charles doing [sic].”
If true, this does not, in itself, reflect badly on King Charles. The pressure on Mountbatten-Windsor to leave his position as emissary had become unsustainable. Over his decade-long tenure of the post, Mountbatten-Windsor had attracted growing criticism for his use of private jets (“Air Miles Andy”), his unsavoury network of friends (including a Libyan gun smuggler) and his loose connection with the truth (“His Royal Lie-Ness” was one tabloid headline).
But it was his connection with Epstein that did for him, when it was revealed in early 2011 that Mountbatten-Windsor maintained a friendship with the financier after he was jailed on child prostitution charges in 2008. (Mountbatten-Windsor has strenuously denied any wrongdoing.) That Charles may have stepped in to call time on Mountbatten-Windsor so as to prevent further torching of the reputation of the House of Windsor is only to his credit.
Yet it does open up a rather troubling, potentially explosive, line of interrogation for our King. For a start, was it true that he was instrumental in his brother’s defenestration? If so, why? How much did he know of Mountbatten-Windsor’s extra-curricular work? And when? And what did he know of the friendship with Epstein?
As I noted here earlier this week, the days when journalists – and indeed the public – were deferential to the Royal Family, desisting from putting them on the spot, are on the way out. The King can only maintain a silence on this matter for so long, using the cover of an ongoing legal process.
What’s more, the answers to these questions will merely lead to more questions. And, most probably, more embarrassment. That’s why the mere mention of Charles’s name in this context is so worthy of note. Clearly, one of the reasons Epstein cultivated Mountbatten-Windsor was for his deep knowledge of the workings of the Royal Family. Whether it was merely for his own voyeuristic pleasure or to seek commercial advantage is not known. But it is clear that Epstein had a particular interest in moving in Royal circles, in nurturing friendships, in gaining inside information.
In that, he was not alone. Was Mountbatten-Windsor merely a useful idiot, engaged by those who wanted privileged access? Even the government body for which he worked, UK Trade & Investment (UKTI), said, just before he stopped being an envoy, that “the Duke’s unique position gives him unrivalled access to members of royal families, heads of state, government ministers and chief executives of companies”.
So here are more questions, to which we’ll never get an answer: what secrets did Mountbatten-Windsor reveal to Epstein? Was he party to confidential information about the Royal Family? All this – from that simple mention of his name in a one-line email – is uncomfortable for Charles.
The British monarchy survives on something more than political power. It has moral authority, and once that disappears, the game is all but over. Even the connection of Charles with Epstein in a headline is bad news for him, because, while the reference is effectively innocent, the link is corrosive and ushers in wider interrogation.
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The Epstein affair has, in many people’s minds, crystallised a populist contention: that there is a networked world of wealth and privilege in which access is a currency and where elites mingle with those who rule our lives, enjoying themselves, appearing to be above the law, and having a laugh at our expense. Faith in the instruments of the establishment has been eroded by repeated scandals, and the monarchy is not insulated from this new age of scepticism.
Charles will know by now that these are perilous times for the House of Windsor. The conflagration of reputations that Epstein left behind is not likely to be quelled soon. It’s not yet certain how he can protect himself and the edifice he defends from more fire damage.
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