Troubles mounted for United Kingdom’s King Charles’ brother Andrew, who was stripped of his royal titles last year, after the Buckingham Palace on Monday extended support for any police probe into his links with convicted American sexual offender and trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
According to a Buckingham Palace spokesperson, King Charles expressed concerns over allegations against his brother and his links with Epstein. (File Photo/REUTERS)
This comes after a recently released barrage of Epstein documents suggested that Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor might have shared sensitive information and documents about British trade with Epstein, reported news agency Reuters.
According to a Buckingham Palace spokesperson, King Charles expressed concerns over allegations against his brother and his links with Epstein. “The king has made clear, in words and through unprecedented actions, his profound concern at allegations which continue to come to light in respect of Mr Mountbatten-Windsor’s conduct,” said the spokesperson.
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“While the specific claims in question are for Mr Mountbatten-Windsor to address, if we are approached by Thames Valley Police we stand ready to support them as you would expect,” the spokesperson added.
“As was previously stated, their majesties’ thoughts and sympathies have been, and remain with, the victims of any and all forms of abuse.”
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King Charles’ son Prince William and his wife Kate also broke silence on the issue and said on Monday that they were deeply concerned about the revelations being made. “Their thoughts remain focused on the victims,” said their spokesperson, without making a direct reference to Prince William’s uncle.
Andrew shared British trade documents with Epstein?
The latest remarks from the British Royal family comes after millions of documents and emails related to Epstein were released recently and some of them suggested that Andrew shared with the disgraced US financier official British trade documents in 2010. These documents were reportedly shared after Epstein was convicted for child sex crimes.
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According to the documents released by the US department of justice, Andrew seemingly forwarded reports about his official trips as UK’s special trade envoy to Vietnam, Singapore and other places to Epstein.
While Andrew has so far denied any wrongdoing and has not spoken since the recent release of Epstein-linked documents, the police of Thames Valley has said that the matter had been reported to them and that whether it should be formally probed or not is under consideration.
(With inputs from Reuters)