U.K. Police Weigh Whether to Formally Investigate Former Prince Andrew Over Epstein Accusations

The police are weighing whether to formally investigate Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor over accusations he shared confidential information with Jeffrey Epstein.

The police in Britain said Wednesday that they had spoken to prosecutors as they weigh whether to formally investigate Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly Prince Andrew, over accusations that he shared confidential information with Jeffrey Epstein while working in an official trade envoy role.

Oliver Wright, assistant chief constable of the Thames Valley Police, said in a statement that his team had “engaged in discussions” with the Crown Prosecution Service, the public prosecutor for England and Wales, as part of its assessment.

“This specifically relates to documents within the United States Department of Justice’s Epstein Files,” Assistant Chief Constable Wright said.

The assessment does not necessarily mean a police investigation will take place. The constable said that “allegations of misconduct in public office involve particular complexities, and therefore an assessment must be conducted carefully and thoroughly.”

While Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor’s links to Mr. Epstein, the disgraced financier and convicted sex offender, have been known about for years — and resulted in him being stripped of his royal titles last year — fresh revelations about the depth of his involvement have emerged since the latest tranche of files related to the disgraced financier were made public on Jan. 30.

The scrutiny of his communications for potential criminal wrongdoing is just the latest turn in the collapse of his reputation for his links to Mr. Epstein.

Buckingham Palace said in a statement released on Monday that if King Charles or the palace were approached by the police for assistance, “we stand ready to support them as you would expect.”

The statement added that the king had “made clear, in words and through unprecedented actions, his profound concern at allegations which continue to come to light in respect of Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor’s conduct.”

The latest documents released by the Department of Justice included a number of emails that suggested the former prince may have shared confidential documents when working as a British trade envoy.

In one, an email from an address that appears linked to Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor forwards several official reports to Mr. Epstein of visits the prince made to South Asia. The reports were sent to him by a special assistant who supported him in his trade role.

Previously, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, one of Mr. Epstein’s victims, said that the financier had trafficked her to Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor around 2001 when she was a teenager, and that he had sex with her multiple times. In a memoir, released last year after her death by suicide, more troubling details emerged.

Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor has repeatedly denied Ms. Giuffre’s accusations and has denied any wrongdoing in relation to his friendship with Mr. Epstein.

But the latest tranche of documents only deepened suspicions as they revealed ongoing communications between the two men.

Graham Smith, the lead campaigner of Republic, a British anti-monarchy group that filed two reports with the Thames Valley Police about concerns of criminal activity by Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor, said that the onus was on the police to act swiftly to investigate, as they had in the case of Peter Mandelson, a senior British politician whose long and close friendship with Mr. Epstein also came to light in the latest documents.

Mr. Mandelson, a senior figure within the Labour Party and the former British ambassador to the United States, is being investigated by the Metropolitan Police in London over accusations that, while serving in the British government in 2008 and 2009, he repeatedly shared confidential and market-sensitive information with Mr. Epstein.

The British government has agreed to release thousands of internal government documents relating to Mr. Mandelson’s vetting and appointment as ambassador. The political turmoil has undermined the leadership of Britain’s prime minister, Keir Starmer, who appointed Mr. Mandelson to the role of ambassador, and even led to calls for him to resign over the decision. Mr. Starmer has been adamant he will not step down.

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