Police in Scotland launch Andrew and Epstein royal castle investigation

Media reports say the inquiries are related to claims that women were trafficked to the king’s Balmoral estate.

Britain's Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor has been tarnished by his relationship with late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein [File: Jordan Pettitt/Pool Photo via AP]

Police in Scotland have opened an investigation into the time the former Prince Andrew spent with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and his associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, at the king’s Balmoral estate.

Police Scotland, which provides law enforcement throughout the country, said on Friday that the inquiries began after it received “information” and that the investigation was at a “very early stage″.

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The force provided no further detail about what the information was or what offences officers were investigating.

The investigation was first reported by The Daily Express, which said the inquiries were related to claims that women were trafficked to the king’s private estate in the Scottish Highlands.

“All inquiries are evidence-led, with the needs of victim survivors at the heart of those inquiries,″ Police Scotland said in a statement. “We would never confirm details of ongoing inquiries and it would be inappropriate to comment further.”

Balmoral Castle in Scotland, March 30, 2022 [AFP]

Scotland shooting holiday

Images released by the United States Department of Justice appeared to show Epstein and Maxwell on a shooting trip at Balmoral in 1999. The photos were among millions of pages of documents the department published earlier this year as Congress probed Epstein’s links to politicians, business leaders and other influential people in the US and around the world.

The presence of anyone’s name or image in the files is not proof of wrongdoing.

Several other UK police forces, including London’s Metropolitan Police Service, Thames Valley Police and Surrey Police, are also investigating information released in the Epstein Files .

In February, Thames Valley officers arrested the former prince , now known as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, on suspicion of misconduct in public office, based on information uncovered in the trove of documents released by US authorities.

The 66-year-old younger brother of King Charles III was held for several hours before being released on police bail pending further investigation.

It was the first time in nearly four centuries that a senior British royal had been arrested.

The former prince has repeatedly denied committing any crimes.

The younger brother of Britain’s King Charles, formerly known as Prince Andrew, leaves Aylsham Police Station on the day he was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office, February 19, 2026 [Phil Noble/Reuters]

Mountbatten-Windsor’s links to Epstein have caused headaches for Britain’s royal family for almost two decades.

With US authorities preparing to release documents related to their long-running investigation into Epstein, the king late last year moved to shield the monarchy from the scandal by stripping his brother of his princely title.

Mountbatten-Windsor was also ordered to move out of the Royal Lodge , his longtime home in parkland near Windsor Castle. He now lives in a house at Sandringham, the king’s privately owned estate in eastern England.

The former prince’s reputation has been tarnished by his relationship with Epstein ever since 2008, when the wealthy American financier pleaded guilty to soliciting a minor for prostitution. In 2011, the late Virginia Giuffre alleged that she had been trafficked by Epstein and forced to have sex with Mountbatten-Windsor when she was 17.

Mountbatten-Windsor tried to silence the scandal by giving a lengthy interview to the BBC in 2019, but the strategy backfired when he was criticised for offering unbelievable explanations of his behaviour and failing to show empathy for Epstein’s victims.

媒体报道称，这些调查与有关妇女被贩卖到国王巴尔莫勒尔庄园的指控有关。

英国安德鲁·蒙巴顿-温莎因与已故性侵犯者杰弗里·爱泼斯坦的关系而名誉受损。[图片：Jordan Pettitt/Pool Photo via AP]

苏格兰警方已对前安德鲁王子在国王的巴尔莫勒尔庄园与已故性侵犯者杰弗里·爱泼斯坦及其同伙吉斯莱恩·麦克斯韦共度的时光展开调查。

负责全国执法工作的苏格兰警方周五表示，在收到“信息”后，调查随即展开，目前调查尚处于“非常早期的阶段”。

美国司法部监察机构将调查爱泼斯坦文件泄露事件，名单共4份，这是第1份。

美国法官公布据称是杰弗里·爱泼斯坦遗书的四份名单之二

参议院民主党人报告称，主要银行对爱泼斯坦事件“视而不见”，该报告列出了四名涉案人员中的第三名。

英国前安德鲁王子的四份搜查令中，第四份因警方承认法律错误而被撤销。

警方没有提供更多关于信息内容或警员正在调查的罪行的细节。

《每日快报》率先报道了这项调查，称调查与有关妇女被贩卖到国王位于苏格兰高地的私人庄园的指控有关。

苏格兰警方在一份声明中表示：“所有调查均以证据为导向，并将受害者幸存者的需求放在首位。我们绝不会透露正在进行的调查的细节，也不宜作进一步评论。”

苏格兰巴尔莫勒尔城堡，2022年3月30日 [法新社]

苏格兰射击假期

美国司法部公布的照片似乎显示，1999年爱泼斯坦和麦克斯韦在巴尔莫勒尔进行了一次射击之旅。这些照片是司法部今年早些时候公布的数百万页文件中的一部分，当时国会正在调查爱泼斯坦与美国和世界各地政界人士、商界领袖和其他有影响力人士之间的联系。

文件中包含任何人的姓名或图像并不能证明其存在不当行为。

包括伦敦警察厅、泰晤士河谷警察局和萨里警察局在内的其他几支英国警察部队也在调查爱泼斯坦档案中公布的信息。

今年二月，泰晤士河谷警方逮捕了这位前王子（现名安德鲁·蒙巴顿-温莎），怀疑他渎职，逮捕依据是美国当局公布的大量文件中披露的信息。

国王查理三世的弟弟，现年66岁的他被警方拘留数小时后，获准保释，等待进一步调查。

这是近四个世纪以来英国高级王室成员首次被捕。

这位前王子多次否认犯有任何罪行。

英国国王查尔斯的弟弟，原名安德鲁王子，于2026年2月19日因涉嫌渎职被捕当天离开艾尔沙姆警察局。[菲尔·诺布尔/路透社]

蒙巴顿-温莎与爱泼斯坦的关系已经给英国王室带来了近二十年的麻烦。

在美国当局准备公布与他们对爱泼斯坦的长期调查有关的文件之际，国王于去年年底采取行动，剥夺了他弟弟的王子头衔，以保护王室免受丑闻的影响。

蒙巴顿-温莎还被勒令搬出皇家别墅，那是他位于温莎城堡附近公园内的长期住所。他现在住在桑德林汉姆的一栋房子里，桑德林汉姆是国王在英格兰东部的私人庄园。

自2008年美国富豪爱泼斯坦承认引诱未成年人卖淫以来，这位前王子的声誉就因与爱泼斯坦的关系而蒙上阴影。2011年，已故的弗吉尼亚·朱弗雷声称，她曾被爱泼斯坦贩卖，并在17岁时被迫与蒙巴顿-温莎发生性关系。

蒙巴顿-温莎试图通过在 2019 年接受 BBC 的长时间采访来平息丑闻，但这一策略适得其反，因为他因对自己的行为提供了令人难以置信的解释以及未能对爱泼斯坦的受害者表现出同情心而受到批评。