Andrew invited Epstein to Buckingham Palace after child sex offender’s release, files suggest

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor invited Jeffrey Epstein to meet him at Buckingham Palace after the child sex offender was released from house arrest, new documents suggest.The latest tranche of releases from the US Department of Justice include an email exchange in 2010 between the financier and the then prince.Another email thread from the same year shows Epstein offering to set Andrew up to meet a 26-year-old Russian woman whom he describes as “clever” and “beautiful”.In an email exchange on 29 September 2010, Epstein said he was in London and asked Andrew what he was doing. Andrew replied that he was having lunch with a Saudi prince and a “secret intelligence firm”.He later emailed Epstein: “Delighted for you to come here to BP. Come with whomever and I’ll be here free from 1600ish to 2000.” BP is though to refer to Buckingham Palace.A photo appearing to show Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor crouched over an unidentified woman. Photograph: US Department of Justice/PAEpstein had been released from house arrest earlier that year, as part of his sentence after pleading guilty to child sex offences. Another 3m pages relating to the case were released on Friday.One of the files shows a photograph of Andrew, clothed, on all fours, over a woman on the floor.In a separate email exchange in December 2010, Epstein tells Andrew he has a female friend he thinks the then prince will enjoy meeting.Andrew replies saying he is unable to meet as he is in Geneva, Switzerland, but would be “delighted to see her”. He later asks what information about himself Epstein has given to the woman.Epstein replies: “She 26, russian, clevere [sic] beautiful, trustworthy.” He adds he has given her Andrew’s email address.Andrew was stripped of his royal titles in October last year amid continued headlines about his friendship with Epstein, who killed himself in prison in 2019 while facing new child sexual abuse charges.He will also have to move out of the Royal Lodge in Windsor, after his brother, King Charles, initiated a “formal process to remove the style, titles and honours” of Andrew.The tranche of messages also show Elon Musk had more extensive ties to Epstein than previously known. Emails from 2013 appear to show the two cordially messaging each other to make plans for the entrepreneur to visit Epstein’s island Little St James.It also emerged that Epstein transferred thousands of pounds to Peter Mandelson’s husband, Reinaldo Avila da Silva, after his release from prison in 2009, according to the emails published by the justice department.Da Silva emailed Epstein on 7 September 2009, about two months after Epstein’s release, asking him to fund an osteopathy course and other expenses.Mandelson said on Friday: “I was never culpable or complicit in his crimes. Like everyone else, I learned the actual truth about him after his death.” Da Silva has not yet commented.