Allegations about Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor\u2019s links to Jeffrey Epstein have unfolded over several years \u2013 and in several pictures. Here is how they have dripped into the public\u2019s consciousness and kept the pressure on the royal family.<\/p>\n
The picture with \u2018no innocent explanation\u2019<\/p>\n
It was taken in 2001, but it did not become public for another decade. The fallout is lasting much longer.<\/p>\n
The picture (above) \u2013 taken by Epstein, of Mountbatten-Windsor with his arm around a 17-year-old Virginia Giuffre while the now-convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell stood at their side \u2013 put Andrew, even if he spent years denying it, in a room with a girl who later claimed he sexually abused her while she was a minor.<\/p>\n
It was a pose that had \u201cno innocent explanation\u201d, Wendy Murphy, a former sex crimes prosecutor, said. For years, Andrew insisted he believed the picture had been doctored. Emails released with the Epstein files this year appeared to contradict that.<\/p>\n
In 2022, Mountbatten-Windsor settled a civil case Giuffre brought in New York alleging he had sexually assaulted her on three occasions, though he made no admission of liability and has always denied Giuffre\u2019s allegations.<\/p>\n
The walk in the parkAndrew strolling through Central Park with Jeffrey Epstein in 2010. Photograph: Jae Donnelly\/Jae Donnelly\/The Sun\/News Licensing<\/p>\n
\u201cJust what is the 4th in line to the throne doing meeting a convicted child-sex pervert \u2026 even if he is a billionaire?\u201d asked the subheading on page seven of the News of the World on 20 February 2011. The story was based on a picture of Mountbatten-Windsor strolling around New York with Epstein, taken in 2010.<\/p>\n
It was a reasonable question. It was difficult to imagine Mountbatten-Windsor had simply missed the news of the financier\u2019s conviction and imprisonment for soliciting prostitution from a minor two years prior to the meeting.<\/p>\n
Mountbatten-Windsor\u2019s answer, when asked by Emily Maitlis eight years after the photo emerged, was that he had visited Esptein to sever contact; feeling the honourable thing to do was to tell him in person.<\/p>\n
His story was undermined when it emerged he had emailed Epstein upon publication of the Giuffre photograph in 2011 to say: \u201cWe are in this together\u201d. In the email, which came to light last year, Mountbatten-Windsor wrote: \u201cKeep in close touch and we\u2019ll play some more soon.\u201d<\/p>\n
The female on the floorPhotos of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor are displayed as Pam Bondi testifies during a House judiciary committee hearing on 11 February. Photograph: Roberto Schmidt\/AFP\/Getty<\/p>\n
When the US justice department released a cache of more than 3m documents related to the Epstein case last month, pictures emerged of Mountbatten-Windsor crouching over an unidentified female lying supine on the floor.<\/p>\n
In one, he can be seen with his hand on the female\u2019s stomach. In another, a smiling Mountbatten-Windsor is seen kneeling above her. He is looking at the camera and has his hands resting either side of her torso. The images are undated, have no captions or reference to indicate where they were taken, and do not indicate wrongdoing.<\/p>\n
The arrestAndrew Mountbatten-Windsor leaving Aylsham police station. Photograph: Phil Noble\/Reuters<\/p>\n
\u201cAndrew Mountbatten-Windsor, younger brother of Britain\u2019s King Charles, formerly known as Prince Andrew, leaves Aylsham police station on a vehicle, on the day he was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office,\u201d the Reuters caption reads.<\/p>\n
It is a fairly bald statement, but it has centuries of history behind it. This is, after all, a picture of the first royal to be arrested since Charles I in 1647.<\/p>\n
The image was taken by the photographer Phil Noble after Mountbatten-Windsor was released under investigation after being held by police for more than 10 hours.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe took six frames in all \u2013 two showed police, two were blank, one was out of focus,\u201d Reuters said. \u201cBut one captured the unprecedented nature of the moment: for the first time in modern history, a senior royal was being treated as a common criminal.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Allegations about Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor\u2019s links to Jeffrey Epstein have unfolded over several years \u2013 and in several pictures.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":437664,"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-437663","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\/437663","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=437663"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437663\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/437664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=437663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=437663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=437663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}