Former Prince Andrew leaves his Windsor home as Britain’s royals seek distance from Epstein revelations

Craig 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 “very much living at the king’s whim.”

“Sandringham is much more secluded,” he added. “It’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.”

Andrew Lownie, author of a biography about Mountbatten-Windsor, said the timing of the move was no coincidence.

“The king has seen that the optics don’t look very good,” he told NBC News.

Mountbatten-Windsor’s distance from London will be welcome after weeks in which lurid allegations about him have again dominated British newspaper front pages.

He has also been excised from the family’s 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.

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: “I think it’s all really important, always, to remember the victims, and who are the victims in all this.”

His language mirrors the stance taken by Charles and Queen Camilla, who said last year that their thoughts were with “the victims and survivors of any and all forms of abuse.”

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.

So far, Charles has spent his time on the throne dealing with a series of scandals, at times facing public heckles and difficult questions about his brother.

The recent tranche of documents released by the Justice Department has only intensified the storm surrounding Mountbatten-Windsor.

In one email exchange from August 2010, Epstein wrote to a contact named “The Duke” offering to introduce a friend “who i think you might enjoy having dinner with,” later adding: “she 26, russian, clevere [sic] beautiful, trustworthy and yes she has your email.” Messages in the email exchange were signed “HRH The Duke of York KG.”

In an exchange from September 2010, days after Epstein’s house arrest sentence ended on charges of solicitation of prostitution of a minor, “The Duke” wrote to Epstein: “Delighted for you to come here to BP,” a common abbreviation for Buckingham Palace.

Mountbatten-Windsor hasn’t commented on the Justice Department’s release of the documents or confirmed that his correspondence is included, but he was pictured with Epstein as late as December 2010 and referred to him as a friend. In 2022, Mountbatten-Windsor reached a legal settlement 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.

Separate messages disclosed appear to be from Sarah Ferguson, Mountbatten-Windsor’s former wife.

In an October 2009 message to Epstein, an account identified as “Sarah” discusses the collapse of Ferguson’s business venture, adding: “I urgently need 20,000 pounds ($27,521) for rent today. The landlord has threatened to go to the newspapers if I don’t pay. Any brainwaves?”

In April 2011, after Ferguson gave a newspaper interview expressing “deep regret” over her friendship with Epstein, the “Sarah” account wrote to Epstein that she was trying to “protect my own brand” but had told the journalist he “was NOT in anyway to go down the P. route.”

In the email exchange, “Sarah” said that Epstein’s financial interests had suffered, “allegedly because I said Jeffrey was a P. And I did NOT. I would NOT.”

In the interview with London’s Evening Standard, Ferguson was quoted as saying she abhorred pedophilia “and any sexual abuse of children and know that this was a gigantic error of judgment on my behalf.”

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

Mountbatten-Windsor and Ferguson did not respond to requests for further comment.

A spokesperson for Ferguson said previously: “The duchess spoke of her regret about her association with Epstein many years ago, and as they have always been, her first thoughts are with his victims.

“Like many people, she was taken in by his lies. As soon as she was aware of the extent of the allegations against him, she not only cut off contact but condemned him publicly, to the extent that he then threatened to sue her for defamation for associating him” with pedophilia.

Ferguson’s charity, Sarah’s Trust, announced Monday it would close “for the foreseeable future.” She was removed from roles with other charities in September.

Meanwhile, British police said Tuesday they are “assessing” information after the BBC News reported last week that a woman in her 20s alleged she was sent to the United Kingdom by Epstein in 2010 for a sexual encounter with Mountbatten-Windsor.

“At this time, these allegations have not been reported to Thames Valley Police by either the lawyer or their client,” the force said Wednesday.

In line with British policing convention, the police statement did not name Mountbatten-Windsor.

For the monarchy, Mountbatten-Windsor’s downfall has come in stages, from his stepping back from royal duties in 2019 to the loss of the His Royal Highness (HRH) status in 2022, followed by his princely title.

What comes next for the royal family is less clear.

“It’s really very difficult to see what else they can actually do,” said Prescott, with any move to oust Mountbatten-Windsor from the line of succession requiring Parliament to intervene.

Lownie added: “I don’t think public opinion is going to be satisfied until there’s a real sense that Andrew is going to be held accountable, is going to face justice.”