Prince Andrew hosted Epstein, Maxwell and Weinstein at Royal Lodge
The trio visited Windsor in 2006 for Princess Beatrice’s birthday, two months after a US arrest warrant was issued for Jeffrey Epstein for sexually assaulting a minor.
Prince Andrew hosted Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell and Harvey Weinstein at Royal Lodge months after an arrest warrant had been issued for Epstein for sexually assaulting a minor.
They visited the 30-room mansion in Windsor before attending Princess Beatrice’s 18th birthday party at Windsor Castle in 2006. Their presence at the party has previously been reported but it was not known that they had visited Andrew’s private home first.
Andrew is under pressure to move out of the Crown Estate property and it has been claimed that Prince William may have threatened to strip Princess Eugenie and Beatrice of their titles.
Emily Maitlis, who interviewed Andrew on BBC’s Newsnight in 2019, said there were unconfirmed reports that William had met his cousins last Thursday, instructing them to convince their father to move out or face consequences to their own titles.
Both Eugenie and Beatrice’s titles have remained unchanged since Andrew renounced his title as Duke of York this month over revelations about his friendship with Epstein, a convicted pedophile.
The details of Epstein, Maxwell and Weinstein’s visit emerged after the BBC traced a previously published photo of them to Royal Lodge after comparing the trees and patio wall to other pictures of the property.
The BBC heard from a witness who remembered seeing Weinstein and Epstein at a drinks event in the back garden before the main party at the castle.
The visit came two months after an arrest warrant had been issued in the United States for Epstein for the sexual assault of a minor. Eight days after the party, he was arrested in Florida.
Asked in 2019 why he invited Epstein to his daughter’s celebrations despite the warrant, Andrew told Newsnight: “Certainly I wasn’t aware when the invitation was issued what was going on in the United States and I wasn’t aware until the media picked up on it because he never said anything about it.”
Epstein and Maxwell, who is in jail for sex trafficking offences, had visited royal residences on other occasions. A photo believed to have been taken in 1999 shows them at Balmoral. In 2000, they attended Andrew’s 40th birthday party at Windsor Castle and the prince hosted a birthday party for Maxwell at Sandringham, which Epstein attended. Maxwell had a private tour of Buckingham Palace in 2002, and a photo later emerged of her sitting on a throne alongside the actor Kevin Spacey.
Despite living at Royal Lodge for more than 20 years, an unredacted copy of the lease obtained by The Times revealed that Andrew had only paid “peppercorn” rent on the property.
It was reported on Monday that he was in talks to move out if both he and his ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, were given homes on the Windsor estate.
Maitlis repeated a claim on The News Agents podcast that William had intervened in efforts to remove Andrew last Thursday. She said: “There was a question over whether there had been, earlier in the day, a meeting between Prince William and the princesses, Beatrice and Eugenie, saying you guys have to get your dad to move out of Royal Lodge otherwise we will start re-examining the state of your own titles.” William was approached for comment.
Maitlis also claimed that the King was due to “read the riot act” to Andrew but the Palace cancelled his visit to Royal Lodge. She said journalists gathered outside the mansion after a tip-off from the Palace that there “may be passing traffic”. She added that the Palace became “very nervous” by the media gathering and cancelled the drive.
According to a royal source, the suggestion that Charles was going to visit was “entirely inaccurate”. Buckingham Palace has declined to comment.
The Times
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