Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor knowingly shared confidential information with Jeffrey Epstein from his official work as trade envoy in Asia, according to information in the latest release of the Epstein files.
Emails in the files show the former prince passing on secret details of investment opportunities to the convicted paedophile following his visits to Singapore, Hong Kong and Vietnam in 2010 and 2011.
This was after Epstein was first convicted for soliciting a prostitute and procuring a child for prostitution in 2008, for which he was jailed for 18 months.
Trade envoys are legally bound to confidentiality over sensitive, commercial or political information from their visits abroad.
Emails suggest Andrew had told Epstein of his official upcoming trips to Singapore, Vietnam, Shenzhen in China and Hong Kong on October 7, 2010. He was then accompanied by business associates of Epstein on these visits, the BBC reported.
After the trip, he forwarded official reports of the visits to Epstein on November 30, five minutes after he had been sent them by his then special adviser Amit Patel.
In further emails from the files dated Christmas Eve 2010, it appears he sent Epstein a confidential briefing on investment opportunities in the reconstruction of Helmand Province, Afghanistan, which was being managed by the British armed forces and funded by UK government money.
The messages contradict Andrew’s claim that he broke off his friendship with the paedophile in December 2010, which he asserted in his disastrous BBC Newsnight interview in 2019.
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor appears to have given paedophile Jeffrey Epstein investment tip offs and reports from his official trips as trade envoy in Asia after the disgraced financier had been convicted of child sex offences
The email from the files appears to show Andrew forwarded on reports from his trade envoy trips to Epstein five minutes after he got them from his then-special adviser, Amit Patel
Another email has also opposed this claim, as it appears Andrew suggested Epstein should invest in a private equity firm he had visited a week before on February 9, 2011.
Epstein was a convicted child sex offender at the time that all of these emails were sent.
Sir Vince Cable, who was then business secretary, told the BBC: ‘I was unaware of Andrew… sharing information about investment opportunities [in Afghanistan] before, this is the first I’ve heard of it.’
Official guidance for envoys reads that ‘the role of a Trade Envoy carries with it a duty of confidentiality in relation to information received. This may include sensitive, commercial, or political information shared about relevant markets/visits.
‘This duty of confidentiality will continue to apply after the expiry of their term of office. In addition, the Official Secrets Acts 1911 and 1989 will apply.’
Andrew has been a key figure of scrutiny for years over his friendship with Epstein, which has come to new heights in recent weeks and months.
He was stripped of his titles last October and was moved out of the seven-bedroom mansion, Royal Lodge, under cover of darkness this Monday, earlier than expected. This was expedited by his brother King Charles in the face of public outcry.
He has now been moved temporarily to Wood Farm on the royal Sandringham estate in Norfolk, awaiting his final move to Marsh Farm, a five-bedroom house also on the estate where the King wants to ‘contain’ his ‘unstable’ brother, palace sources told The Times yesterday.
Peter Mandelson pictured in a dressing gown with Jeffrey Epstein in the files
Andrew is not the only figure from the UK who looks to have been sending Epstein official confidential information.
Former ambassador to the United States, Peter Mandelson, appears to have given advanced warning to Epstein of a €500billion bail out to save the ailing Euro in the shadow of the Greek debt crisis in May 2010, the night before it was announced.
He is also believed to have forwarded on internal UK government information concerning the selling off of public assets to raise public funds in June 2009.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has come under fire for appointing him ambassador in 2025, and admitted this week that he was aware of Mandelson’s friendship with the disgraced financier before he gave him the job.
Sir Keir’s chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, today resigned over the scandal after it was revealed that he had pushed for Mandelson’s appointment.
