Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s taxpayer funded Met bodyguards told to provide security for Epstein party, emails reveal
Taxpayer-funded Metropolitan Police guards were instructed to provide gate security for a lavish celebrity dinner party at Jeffrey Epstein’s New York home, according to emails.
Two royal bodyguards were apparently told that the pedophile financier was convicted of child sexual assault in 2010 after working as a doorman at his seven-storey Manhattan mansion.
Officers tasked with protecting the prince were staying at the multimillion-pound mansion on 71st Street during a trip to visit the royal’s friend, according to emails revealed in the latest installment of the Epstein files released by the US Department of Justice.
First reported emails Sunday TimesIt alleges that these officers were also asked to provide security for a dinner party attended by royalty on 2 December. Celebrities mentioned in the guest list in the emails include Hollywood director Woody Allen, his wife Soon-Yi Previn, as well as two US news anchors Katie Couric and George Stephanopoulos, comedian Chelsea Handler and talk show host Charlie Rose. It is unclear whether they participated or not.
In an email sent the night before the party, a staff member wrote to Epstein: “The Duke’s 2 body guards and state security will be here for the dinner party tomorrow [sic]… Rich gave them instructions at the door.”
The reference to “state security” indicates that US diplomatic guards were also involved. “Rich” appears to be a member of Epstein’s team.
Mr Mountbatten-Windsor told BBC Newsnight in 2019 that he went to New York in 2010 only to “cut ties” with Epstein. During the visit, a photo was taken with the financier in Central Park.
The findings come after the Met police called on the prince’s former close protection officers to take action. “Carefully consider whether anything they saw or heard was relevant to the investigation into Epstein and his associates.”
The force said it had contacted former and serving close protection officers who worked closely with Mr Mountbatten-Windsor, amid growing questions about the events they witnessed.
Dai Davies, the former head of the Royal Guard from 1994 to 1998, said on Friday it was “a beggar of faith” that police and other officials working closely with the Crown had never encountered “inappropriate” behaviour. He raised questions about the “culture of silence” regarding the former Duke of York’s behavior.
“Remember, this goes back so many years, over 20 years in fact, that many of them will be retired in some cases,” he said. Channel 4.
“So they will have to decide with their conscience and moral compass what they see or don’t see.”
Mr Mountbatten-Windsor was arrested last week and released pending an investigation by a different police force into suspected abuse of public office. The Crown has consistently denied any wrongdoing.
Thames Valley Police confirmed the arrest on Thursday, the royal’s 66th birthday, following allegations in the Epstein files that the former prince shared sensitive information with Epstein while serving as Britain’s trade envoy.
Aylesham was held in custody for 11 hours for police questioning before he was photographed cowering in the back of a Range Rover as he was driven from a police station in Norfolk.
Police also raided two addresses outside Wood Farm, where Mr Mountbatten-Windsor lived on the King’s Sandringham Estate in Norfolk, where unmarked police cars and plainclothes officers were seen on the morning of his arrest.
Searches are also entering their fourth day at the sprawling 30-room Royal Lodge in Berkshire’s Windsor Great Park, the former home he until recently shared with ex-wife Sarah Ferguson.
The government is understood to be considering introducing legislation that would exclude the disgraced royal, who is now eighth in line to the throne, from succession once the police investigation concludes.
A group of MPs are also considering launching a parliamentary inquiry into the role of UK trade envoys following the allegations.
Mr Mountbatten-Windsor was stripped of his royal titles amid the ongoing scandal over his friendship with Epstein.
In 2022, it paid a reported £12 million to settle a civil sexual assault lawsuit brought by Virgina Giuffre, who said she was kidnapped by Epstein and forced to sleep with the royal family three times. He has consistently denied any wrongdoing.
