Newly released US court documents claim that Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor invited the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein to Buckingham Palace, offering “lots of privacy”, according to emails disclosed by the Department of Justice.
The correspondence appears in a fresh tranche of millions of pages and thousands of videos made public on Friday as part of ongoing releases linked to Epstein’s estate. Officials stressed that inclusion in the files does not in itself imply criminal wrongdoing.
In one exchange, Epstein suggested arranging a dinner between Andrew and a woman he described as a “beautiful” 26-year-old Russian national who would be visiting London. Writing to Andrew, Epstein said he had “a friend who I think you might enjoy having dinner with”, adding that she was “trustworthy” and already had Andrew’s email address.
The files show that Andrew replied by inviting Epstein to Buckingham Palace, promising “lots of privacy”. The documents do not indicate whether the proposed meeting took place.
The disclosure has renewed scrutiny of the Duke of York’s long-disputed relationship with Epstein, which continued even after the financier’s conviction for soliciting a minor in 2008. Andrew previously acknowledged the friendship but said he ended it during a visit to New York in December 2010.
That explanation was later questioned after photographs emerged showing the pair walking together in Central Park. In his 2019 BBC Newsnight interview, Andrew said he chose to end the relationship in person, stating that doing so by telephone would have been “the chicken’s way of doing it”.
Earlier documents released this month suggested that Andrew attended a small private gathering at Epstein’s Manhattan townhouse during the same visit – months after Epstein had been released from prison.
The latest files also include email correspondence between Epstein’s associate Ghislaine Maxwell and an address believed to belong to Andrew. In a message sent the day after the death of the Queen Mother in March 2002, Maxwell expressed condolences and wrote that she had met and spoken with her. The documents do not specify when that meeting occurred or under what circumstances.
Maxwell, who introduced Andrew to Epstein in the late 1990s, is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence in the United States for child sex trafficking offences.
Andrew has consistently denied all allegations of sexual misconduct. In 2022 he paid a reported £12 million settlement to Virginia Giuffre, who alleged she was trafficked to him by Epstein as a teenager. The settlement was made without any admission of liability.
Epstein died by suicide in a Manhattan jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges.
Buckingham Palace declined to comment on the contents of the latest disclosure. Andrew withdrew from royal duties in 2019 and was subsequently stripped of his HRH style and military titles.
The Department of Justice said the documents include unverified claims, private emails and third-party references, and warned that the presence of names within the files should not be interpreted as evidence of criminal conduct.
However, the emergence of material referring directly to Buckingham Palace is likely to intensify pressure on the monarchy as further Epstein-related documents continue to be released.
