![\"Image:](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/260201-andrew-nd-8a6897.jpg\")
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor in September.Jordan Pettitt \/ AFP – Getty Images<\/p>\nCraig Prescott, who teaches law at Royal Holloway, University of London, and specializes in the constitutional and political role of the monarchy, said that moving to a privately-owned property leaves Mountbatten-Windsor \u201cvery much living at the king’s whim.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cSandringham is much more secluded,\u201d he added. \u201cIt’s a long way from London, much further than Windsor is, and it’s considerably more private. He won’t be seen out and about in the same way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Andrew Lownie, author of a biography about Mountbatten-Windsor, said the timing of the move was no coincidence. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe king has seen that the optics don\u2019t look very good,\u201d he told NBC News.<\/p>\n
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor in September.Jordan Pettitt \/ AFP – Getty Images<\/p>\n
Mountbatten-Windsor’s distance from London will be welcome after weeks in which lurid allegations about him have again dominated British newspaper front pages.<\/p>\n
He has also been excised from the family\u2019s press operation, with Buckingham Palace making clear in October that it would no longer answer queries on his behalf, leaving him to fend for himself amid a storm of media scrutiny.<\/p>\n
Prince Edward, Charles’ youngest brother, was left to navigate the fallout at the World Governments Summit on Tuesday, avoiding mention of Mountbatten-Windsor by name as he told CNN: \u201cI think it’s all really important, always, to remember the victims, and who are the victims in all this.\u201d<\/p>\n
His language mirrors the stance taken by Charles and Queen Camilla, who said last year that their thoughts were with \u201cthe victims and survivors of any and all forms of abuse.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/260205-andrew-windsor-mn-0800-baab2c.jpg\")
A car believed to be driven by Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor leaves the Royal Lodge in Windsor on Feb. 1.Justin Tallis \/ AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n
Charles became king in 2022 with the difficult tasks of modernizing the monarchy and following his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, whose popularity in Britain and global respect was hard-won across her 70-year reign.<\/p>\n
So far, Charles has spent his time on the throne dealing with a series of scandals<\/a>, at times facing public heckles<\/a> and difficult questions about his brother.<\/p>\n The recent tranche of documents released by the Justice Department has only intensified the storm surrounding Mountbatten-Windsor.<\/p>\n In one email exchange from August 2010<\/a>, Epstein wrote to a contact named \u201cThe Duke\u201d offering to introduce a friend \u201cwho i think you might enjoy having dinner with,\u201d later adding: \u201cshe 26, russian, clevere [sic] beautiful, trustworthy and yes she has your email.\u201d Messages in the email exchange were signed \u201cHRH The Duke of York KG.\u201d <\/p>\n In an exchange from September 2010<\/a>, days after Epstein’s house arrest sentence ended on charges of solicitation of prostitution of a minor, \u201cThe Duke\u201d wrote to Epstein: \u201cDelighted for you to come here to BP,\u201d a common abbreviation for Buckingham Palace. <\/p>\n Mountbatten-Windsor hasn\u2019t commented on the Justice Department\u2019s release of the documents or confirmed that his correspondence is included, but he was pictured with Epstein as late as December 2010 <\/a>and referred to him as a friend. In 2022, Mountbatten-Windsor reached a legal settlement<\/a> and paid an undisclosed sum to Virginia Giuffre, who had alleged she was sexually abused by him when she was 17. Giuffre alleged she was trafficked to him by Epstein and British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell.<\/p>\n Separate messages disclosed appear to be from Sarah Ferguson, Mountbatten-Windsor’s former wife.<\/p>\n In an October 2009 message to Epstein<\/a>, an account identified as \u201cSarah\u201d discusses the collapse of Ferguson’s business venture, adding: \u201cI urgently need 20,000 pounds ($27,521) for rent today. The landlord has threatened to go to the newspapers if I don\u2019t pay. Any brainwaves?\u201d <\/p>\n In April 2011, after Ferguson gave a newspaper interview expressing \u201cdeep regret\u201d over her friendship with Epstein, the \u201cSarah\u201d account wrote to Epstein<\/a> that she was trying to \u201cprotect my own brand\u201d but had told the journalist he \u201cwas NOT in anyway to go down the P. route.\u201d <\/p>\n In the email exchange, \u201cSarah\u201d said that Epstein’s financial interests had suffered, \u201callegedly because I said Jeffrey was a P. And I did NOT. I would NOT.\u201d <\/p>\n![\"Sarah](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/260204-prince-andrew-sarah-ferguson-mn-1320-011e15.jpg\")
Sarah Ferguson talks with her ex-husband, then-Prince Andrew, in 2010.Max Mumby \/ Indigo \/ Getty Images file<\/p>\n