Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor is facing a fresh police investigation into allegations that Jeffrey Epstein trafficked women to Balmoral.
Police Scotland has confirmed that officers are examining visits to the King’s Scottish Highlands estate by Epstein, the late convicted paedophile, and his former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell, who is now serving a prison sentence.
The investigation follows claims that women were trafficked to the private Balmoral estate.
Mountbatten-Windsor and Maxwell are reportedly understood to have travelled to Balmoral aboard Epstein’s private jet in 2006.
US prosecutors previously released an image showing Epstein and Maxwell at a Balmoral log cabin during a 1999 visit to Royal Deeside.
Images later published by the US Department of Justice also appear to show Mountbatten-Windsor and Epstein taking part in a shooting trip on the estate.
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: ‘We have received information and active enquiries are ongoing, but these are at a very early stage.
‘All enquiries are evidence led, with the needs of victim survivors at the heart of those enquiries.
‘We would never confirm details of ongoing enquiries and it would be inappropriate to comment further.’
Buckingham Palace announced last year that Mountbatten-Windsor would no longer be known as a prince and would leave Royal Lodge. He was instead expected to move to the family’s Sandringham estate in Norfolk.
Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell pictured inside a Balmoral log cabin in an image released in 2021 by the US District Court for the Southern District of New York
The Duke of York (left) pictured with sex-trafficking victim Virginia Giuffre (centre) and Ghislaine Maxwell (right), Epstein’s longtime confidante and accomplice
Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell pictured in the countryside near Balmoral
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor pictured driving in Wolverton, Norfolk, on October 28
King Charles stripped his brother of his titles after weeks of pressure to act over Andrew’s relationship with Epstein, the late financier and convicted paedophile.
The move came after the former prince said he would no longer use the title Duke of York, following fresh revelations about his association with Epstein and renewed sexual abuse allegations made by Epstein victim Virginia Roberts Giuffre in her posthumous memoir.
Giuffre, who died by suicide in April last year, alleged that Andrew was forced to have sex with her three times, claims he vehemently denies. She said the encounters took place when she was 17, including during an orgy, after Epstein had trafficked her.
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Andrew paid millions of dollars to settle a civil sexual assault case brought by Giuffre in 2022, while maintaining that he had never met her.
Giuffre had previously said Epstein and Maxwell kept her as a sex slave, flying her around the world and presenting her to influential associates ‘like a platter of fruit’.
She alleged that the pair trafficked her to the Duke of York when she was 17 and that he sexually assaulted her three times, allegations Prince Andrew has denied.
A photograph has been widely shared of them together in a London townhouse, his arm around her bare midriff, and was included in Ms Giuffre’s lawsuit against him.
Epstein killed himself in August 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges involving dozens of teenage girls and young women, some as young as 14.
In lawsuits, Ms Giuffre said she was a teenage spa attendant at Mar-a-Lago, President Donald Trump’s Palm Beach club, when she was approached in 2000 by Epstein’s girlfriend and later employee Maxwell.
Ms Giuffre said Maxwell hired her as a masseuse for Epstein, but the couple effectively made her a sexual servant, pressuring her into gratifying not only Epstein but his friends and associates.
Buckingham Palace said in a statement last October that the King’s moves against Andrew were ‘deemed necessary notwithstanding the fact that he continues to deny the allegations against him’.
The statement said: ‘His Majesty has today initiated a formal process to remove the style, titles and honours of Prince Andrew.
‘Prince Andrew will now be known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor. His lease on Royal Lodge has, to date, provided him with legal protection to continue in residence.
‘Formal notice has now been served to surrender the lease and he will move to alternative private accommodation.
‘These censures are deemed necessary, notwithstanding the fact that he continues to deny the allegations against him.
‘Their Majesties wish to make clear that their thoughts and utmost sympathies have been, and will remain with, the victims and survivors of any and all forms of abuse.’
Officers have been investigating Andrew for alleged misconduct in public office, after it was suggested that emails he sent to convicted sex offender Epstein while he was the UK’s trade envoy contained sensitive information.
As plain clothes officers searched his property earlier this year, Andrew was arrested and held for almost 12 hours at Aylsham police station in Norfolk while he was being questioned.
He was released under investigation and strongly denies any wrongdoing.
It was the first time a royal had been detained by police in more than 350 years.