{"id":406613,"date":"2026-02-04T01:58:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T01:58:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/406613\/"},"modified":"2026-02-04T01:58:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T01:58:10","slug":"epstein-emails-bring-scandal-to-europes-elite-from-norways-crown-princess-to-britains-prince-of-darkness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/406613\/","title":{"rendered":"Epstein emails bring scandal to Europe’s elite, from Norway’s crown princess to Britain’s ‘prince of darkness’"},"content":{"rendered":"

London\u2019s Metropolitan Police<\/a>, which earlier said it was reviewing reports of \u201calleged misconduct in public office\u201d to determine whether it met the threshold for criminal investigation, announced late Tuesday that it had \u201claunched an investigation into a 72-year-old man, a former Government Minister<\/a>, for misconduct in public office offences.\u201d As is customary, it did not identify by name who was being investigated. <\/p>\n

Mandelson had already resigned<\/a> as the U.K.\u2019s ambassador to the United States in September after revelations about his friendship with Epstein emerged. On Sunday, he also stepped down from the governing Labour Party, after the latest release of files suggested he lobbied his own government on behalf of Epstein while alerting him about coming key decisions.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrying hard to amend,\u201d Mandelson wrote to Epstein<\/a> about a planned tax on bankers\u2019 bonuses in December 2009, according to the released documents. \u201cTreasury digging in but I am on [the] case.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mandelson also appears to have leaked an internal economics briefing<\/a> about assets the government believed it could sell. Mandelson forwarded it to Epstein with the added line: \u201cInteresting note that\u2019s gone to the PM.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2010, while Mandelson was business secretary, he notified Epstein in advance that Prime Minister Gordon Brown<\/a> was going to resign following his loss of the general election, writing \u201cfinally got him to go today\u2026\u201d according to an email exchange between the two.<\/p>\n

Epstein served jail time, having been convicted in 2008 of soliciting a minor<\/a> for prostitution, although the true scale of his crimes did not start to emerge until 2015.<\/p>\n

Mandelson said that he was resigning to avoid \u201cfurther embarrassment to the Labour Party\u201d and that he wanted to \u201crepeat my apology to the women<\/a> and girls whose voices should have been heard long before now.\u201d<\/p>\n

In an interview the British newspaper The Times published Monday<\/a>, he spoke about a \u201chandful of misguided historical emails, which I deeply regret sending,\u201d and likened Epstein to \u201cmuck that you can\u2019t get off your shoe.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"UKMandelson with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer at the ambassador’s residence in Washington in 2025.Carl Court \/ Getty Images file<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Keir Starmer, his former boss, said Tuesday that \u201che was appalled by the information that had emerged over the weekend in the Epstein files<\/a>,\u201d his spokesman told reporters.<\/p>\n

He said the \u201calleged passing on of emails of highly sensitive government business was disgraceful, adding that he was not reassured that the totality of the information had yet emerged,\u201d the spokesman said.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, in Norway, the future queen, Crown Princess Mette-Marit<\/a>, apologized after emails suggested that she \u2014 like Mandelson \u2014 was a far closer personal friend of Epstein\u2019s than she had previously acknowledged.<\/p>\n

Like Britain\u2019s royal family, the Norwegian monarchs<\/a> have been thrown into turmoil after the emergence of emails sent from 2011 to 2013 of Epstein corresponding with an address listed as \u201cH.K.H. Kronprinsessen\u201d \u2014 which means \u201cHer Royal Highness<\/a> the Crown Princess.\u201d<\/p>\n

H.K.H. Kronprinsessen\u2019s<\/a> email in November 2012 calls Epstein a \u201csweetheart.\u201d Another the following January reads: \u201cAnyway are you coming over to see me soon??? I miss my crazy friend.\u201d<\/p>\n

The crown princess, who is married to Crown Prince Haakon, next in line to the throne, said in a statement that she took \u201cresponsibility for not having investigated Epstein\u2019s background more thoroughly, and for not realizing sooner what kind of person he was.\u201d She said she \u201cdeeply\u201d regretted her \u201cpoor judgement\u201d <\/a>and called it \u201csimply embarrassing.\u201d<\/p>\n

She also said she had \u201cdeep sympathy and solidarity with the victims of the abuse<\/a> committed by Jeffrey Epstein.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Royal House of Norway did not respond to requests for additional comment.<\/p>\n

\"CrownNorway’s Crown Princess Mette-Marit in Berlin in 2023.Sean Gallup \/ Getty Images file<\/p>\n

The media glare was only deepened Tuesday with the start of a sex assault trial<\/a> for Marius Borg H\u00f8iby, 29, the crown princess\u2019 son, who pleaded not guilty to 38 charges \u2014 including four of rape.<\/p>\n

The revelations prompted a rare public rebuke of the popular royals from the country\u2019s political leader. Mette-Marit \u201cshowed bad judgment,\u201d<\/a> Prime Minister Jonas Gahr St\u00f8re said Monday.<\/p>\n

Even for Mandelson, dubbed \u201csilver tongue\u201d <\/a>by then-President George W. Bush, the most recent disclosures were startling.<\/p>\n

\u201cMandelson was at the heart of government,\u201d said Dan Neidle, a prominent tax lawyer who founded Tax Policy Associates, a U.K. nonprofit organization aiming to improve the public\u2019s understanding of policy. <\/p>\n

\"MandelsonMandelson and Epstein in an undated image from the disgraced financier’s 50th birthday book. via House Oversight Committee<\/p>\n

He \u201cwas leaking information on the British and U.S. governments\u2019 responses to the financial crisis to Epstein<\/a>,\u201d Neidle told NBC News, referring to the latest tranche of documents released by the Justice Department, which he has analyzed in detail. \u201cThat\u2019s incredibly serious.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mandelson rose to prominence in the 1990s as a key force behind the \u201cNew Labour\u201d movement of then-Prime Minister Tony Blair.<\/p>\n

His most recent comeback was as Starmer\u2019s ambassador to Washington \u2014 but he lasted only months in that role after an earlier salvo of Epstein files<\/a> showed the two enjoyed a much closer relationship than was previously admitted. Mandelson called Epstein \u201cmy best pal\u201d<\/a> in a 2003 birthday book for Epstein. <\/p>\n

The most recently released files also appear to show that Epstein gave $75,000 in three payments<\/a> to accounts linked to Mandelson or his partner in 2003 and 2004.<\/p>\n

The London Speaker Bureau, a keynote speaker organization that lists Mandelson as a speaker<\/a>, did not immediately respond to requests for additional comment and information.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson released this statement to The Independent online newspaper: \u201cAllegations, which I believe to be false, that he made financial payments to me 20 years ago<\/a>, and of which I have no record or recollection, need investigating by me.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"London\u2019s Metropolitan Police, which earlier said it was reviewing reports of \u201calleged misconduct in public office\u201d to determine…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":406614,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-406613","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-kingdom","8":"tag-gb","9":"tag-great-britain","10":"tag-greatbritain","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406613","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=406613"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406613\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/406614"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=406613"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=406613"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=406613"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}