Former prince Andrew apparently 'invited Epstein to Buckingham Palace': files

LONDON: King Charles III’s brother Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor appeared to invite Jeffrey Epstein to Buckingham Palace shortly after the late sex offender was released from house arrest, newly released documents showed Friday.

The apparent invitation to the royal residence in central London appears in one of the millions of new pages released Friday by the US Justice Department.

According to one message, Epstein contacted Andrew on September 27, 2010 during a stay in London, writing: “What time would you like me… we will also need (to)… have private time.”

Andrew replied that he was just leaving Scotland, adding: “We could have dinner at Buckingham Palace and lots of privacy.”

Two days later Andrew emailed again.

“Delighted for you to come here to BP (Buckingham Palace). Come with whomever and I’ll be here free from 1600ish to 2000,” he wrote.

Andrew, who has always denied any wrongdoing, was last year stripped by the king of all his royal titles over his association with Epstein.

It was not clear whether any dinner at the palace — then the official London residence of the late Queen Elizabeth II — ever took place.

Epstein had been released on probation from house arrest in August 2010 following his sentencing for procuring for prostitution a girl below the age of 18.

Other documents made public last year and a posthumous memoir by Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre — who had accused Andrew of sexual assault — reignited UK anger over his ties to Epstein.

It culminated in the king deciding to remove all of his brother’s royal titles and honours and announcing that he would be ousted from his 30-room mansion on the royal estate at Windsor, west of London.

Andrew, now known by the surname Mountbatten-Windsor, has always denied that he sexually abused Giuffre, who alleged that she was trafficked to have sex with him on three occasions, twice when she was just 17.

After she launched a lawsuit against him, he paid her a multi-million-pound settlement in 2022 without making any admission of guilt.

Giuffre, a US and Australian citizen, died by suicide at her home in Australia in April.

Epstein died by suicide in jail in 2019.