Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor attempted to arrange a meeting with Libyan dictator Colonel Gaddafi for Jeffrey Epstein, newly-released emails suggest.
A series of exchanges between what appears to be the disgraced duke, who at the time was a UK trade envoy, and the billionaire paedophile, reveal Epstein had been approached by Gaddafi’s associates to help the dictator with managing his finances.
The extraordinary emails, dated to 2010 and included in the latest tranche of Epstein files released by the US Department of Justice, refer to Gaddafi as ‘the father’ and ‘the leader’, while Mountbatten-Windsor is given the alias ‘PA’, a Channel 4 News investigation has found.
It is believed ‘father’ was used to distinguish Gaddafi from his son, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi. Mountbatten-Windsor had met both during his time as a UK trade envoy.
In one email, written on October 7, 2010 to the former duke’s associate David Stern, Epstein wrote: ‘i want to go to tripoli lets organize with pa.’
Stern replied positively the same day saying: ‘Spoke to PA. Tripoli can be organised, he wants more details.’
The financier explained in a subsequent email: ‘people that have seen the father, have asked me if i want to meet him as he does not know where to put his money […] I wondered if Pa should make the intro instead’.
Stern responded to say Mountbatten-Windsor had been briefed on the proposal and was ‘thinking about the best approach’, adding that he was due to see him on October 17 in Hong Kong.
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor attempted to arrange a meeting with Colonel Gaddafi for Jeffrey Epstein, newly-released emails suggest. Pictured: The Libyan dictator in 2010
Epstein revealed in a series of emails that he had been approached by Gaddafi’s associates to help the dictator with managing his finances
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was a UK trade envoy at the time of the email exchange. Pictured: The disgraced Duke on a visit to Malaysia in 2010
Mountbatten-Windsor’s trade envoy diary corroborates that the former prince had visited China on October 17, 2010.
Weeks later, on November 3, 2010, Epstein followed up with Stern and was told Mountbatten-Windsor would be speaking with his Gaddafi contact ‘tonight or tomorrow’.
A day later, Mountbatten-Windsor directly reached out to Epstein telling him, ‘Libya fixed. Call me whenever’.
Epstein, who claimed to be in the UAE at the time, sent a final email on the matter on November 7, 2010 in which he said: ‘I will gladly go to tripoli, as i thinkg it would be interesting, but only if it is easy to organize and the meeting will definitely take place.’
His travel itinerary in later emails revealed however that he flew from UAE to Turkey and then France, indicating the proposed meeting never took place.
The latest revelations come as other emails released with the Epstein files allege Mountbatten-Windsor passed on a confidential Treasury briefing to a banker friend.
In 2010, he requested an official update on the financial crisis gripping Iceland at the time. When the Treasury sent him one, Mountbatten-Windsor forwarded it to his financier friend Jonathan Rowland to read ‘before you make your next move’, The Telegraph reported.
The former Duke of York may be facing a police probe over claims he leaked confidential data to Jeffrey Epstein when he was the UK’s special representative for trade.
The extraordinary emails, dated to 2010 and included in the latest tranche of Epstein files released by the US Department of Justice, reveal how Mountbatten-Windsor appears to have attempted to set up the meeting between Gaddafi and Epstein
Thames Valley Police detectives are assessing whether to open an investigation. Earlier this week, Buckingham Palace said it stands ‘ready to support’ police in any investigation, in an unprecedented statement in which the King expressed his ‘profound concern’ at mounting allegations against his brother.
Mr Rowland was the former chief executive of Banque Havilland, founded by his father David Rowland, to whom the former prince was also close.
In the emails seen by The Telegraph, the former prince tasked his deputy private secretary Amanda Thirsk to write to Michael Ellam, the Treasury’s director general of international finance. At the time, the UK and Iceland were having a diplomatic row over British deposits lost in the 2008 banking crisis.
Ms Thirsk wrote on February 8, 2010: ‘The Duke of York met with the prime minister of Iceland at Davos and would very much like to receive an update note on the latest position between the UK and Iceland on the matter of the deposits and the deposit scheme.’
A week later, a different Treasury official replied with a note, and she forwarded it to Andrew. Two hours later, he passed it to Jonathan Rowland, whose bank had bought assets from a failed Icelandic lender a year earlier.
Andrew told him: ‘I pass this on to you for comment and a suggestion or solution?
‘The essence is that Amanda is getting signals that we should allow the democratic process [to] happen before you make your move. Interested in your opinion? A.’
Banque Havilland was connected to a major investigation by Icelandic authorities at the time.
Other emails released within the Epstein files allege Mountbatten-Windsor passed on a confidential Treasury briefing to his banker friend Jonathan Rowland (pictured with his father David in 2017)
Day at the races: David Rowland and Prince Andrew seen at Royal Ascot together in 2006
The email was sent days after Iceland’s office of the special prosecutor raided the offices of Kaupthing Bank, part of which had just been acquired by Banque Havilland after the Icelandic institution collapsed.
Many depositors who lost access to their cash were British.
Andrew’s connections to the Rowland family go back years. Guernsey-based Tory donor David Rowland once gave Sarah Ferguson £40,000 to help clear debts.
And it was reported in 2022 that leaked documents suggested he had previously paid off a £1.5million bank loan for the Duke in 2017.
Mr Rowland Snr was invited to Balmoral – where he reportedly met the Queen and took tea with the Prince of Wales. Shortly after the £1.5million gift, he enticed Andrew to the launch of a joint venture between one of his banks and a sovereign wealth fund in Abu Dhabi.
There are further documents in the Epstein files which show the close relationship between Andrew and the Rowland family.
A photo from the Epstein files appears to show Andrew leering over an unidentified woman in what looks to be Epstein’s New York home
In an email sent to Epstein in September 2009, an individual referring to Sarah Ferguson said they ‘will finalise F summary for you next week. Can’t now cause she went to nepal paying for the first class flight with her rowland bank loan’.
Thames Valley Police is still assessing whether to investigate Andrew, after documents in the Epstein files showed he was forwarding on official papers. When he went to visit Jeffrey Epstein in November 2010, he passed on Whitehall reports from his visit to Hong Kong, Singapore, Vietnam and China within five minutes of receiving them from his office at Buckingham Palace.
Another time, he gave Epstein a briefing on investment opportunities in Afghanistan’s Helmand province.
Mr Rowland and Banque Havilland have been approached for comment.
