Detectives in Scotland are investigating Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell\u2019s stay at Balmoral castle as reported guests of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor amid allegations that women were trafficked from the royal estate.<\/p>\n
Police Scotland said it had received \u201cinformation\u201d and inquiries were at a \u201cvery early stage\u201d into the time the disgraced royal spent with the late paedophile financier at Balmoral.<\/p>\n
Epstein, who was convicted of soliciting sex from girls in 2008, and Maxwell, who was convicted in 2021 of sex trafficking a minor, stayed at Balmoral in 1999.<\/p>\n
Pictures previously released by the US Department of Justice appear to show Andrew and Epstein shooting on the estate.<\/p>\n
The Daily Express has reported that the inquiries relate to claims that women were trafficked to the estate.<\/p>\n
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: \u201cWe have received information and active inquiries are ongoing, but these are at a very early stage. All inquiries are evidence-led, with the needs of victim survivors at the heart of those inquiries. We would never confirm details of ongoing inquiries and it would be inappropriate to comment further.\u201d<\/p>\n
Several forces, including Thames Valley police, the Metropolitan police and Surrey police, also had live investigations linked to the release of the Epstein files, the National Police Chiefs\u2019 Council confirmed.<\/p>\n
An NPCC spokesperson said: \u201cIdentifying any further potential offending, suspects, victims or witnesses is a complex process and will take time, but UK policing remains committed to carrying out a meticulous assessment of the material released by the US Department of Justice.\u201d<\/p>\n
There was no national investigation at present, the NPCC said.<\/p>\n
The former Duke of York was photographed being driven away from Aylsham police station after his arrest in February. Photograph: Phil Noble\/Reuters<\/p>\n
The former Duke of York was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office on 19 February this year, his 66th birthday, after allegations he had shared sensitive information with Epstein during his time as a UK trade envoy. He was interviewed under caution before being released under investigation. He denies wrongdoing, with the police investigation continuing.<\/p>\n
An email released in a tranche of the Epstein files last year signed \u201cA\u201d asked the disgraced British socialite Maxwell for \u201cinappropriate friends\u201d. In one of four emails sent by someone using the name the Invisible Man to Maxwell in August 2001, the sender told the now convicted sex trafficker their \u201cvalet\u201d had recently died and they had \u201cleft the RN\u201d.<\/p>\n
Mountbatten-Windsor left the Royal Navy the month before the email was sent. Another email from the same individual, dated 16 August 2001, said they were at \u201cBalmoral summer camp for the royal family\u201d before asking Maxwell: \u201cHave you found me some inappropriate friends?\u201d<\/p>\n
In March 2002, an email from Maxwell to the Invisible Man said they had passed on a message to an unnamed individual, with that message beginning: \u201cI just gave Andrew your telephone no.\u201d<\/p>\n
The message from Maxwell to the unidentified person also said \u201cAndrew\u201d would be \u201cvery happy\u201d if he did some \u201ctwo legged sight seeing\u201d.<\/p>\n
Andrew was the UK\u2019s special representative for international trade and investment from 2001 until 2011, when he stepped down amid controversy over his friendship with Epstein.<\/p>\n
He received no salary for travelling around the world and at home promoting Britain\u2019s business interests, but criticisms were made about the thousands of pounds spent each year on his expenses and travel costs.<\/p>\n
His decision to quit the role came in the same year he was pictured with his arm around his primary accuser, Virginia Giuffre, who said she had been trafficked to the former duke at the home of Maxwell.<\/p>\n
Andrew paid Giuffre, a woman he has claimed never to have met, millions of pounds to settle a civil suit in the US in 2022.<\/p>\n
Giuffre died by suicide aged 41 in April 2025.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Detectives in Scotland are investigating Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell\u2019s stay at Balmoral castle as reported guests of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":818636,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[96,59,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-818635","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-gb","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/818635","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=818635"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/818635\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/818636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=818635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=818635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=818635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}