The police in Scotland said Friday that they were investigating time spent by Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor with Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted sex offender, and Ghislaine Maxwell, Mr. Epstein’s longtime associate, at the Balmoral estate, a favorite royal retreat.
Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly known as Prince Andrew, was arrested earlier this year on suspicion of misconduct in public office over accusations that he had shared confidential information with Mr. Epstein. Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor has long denied any wrongdoing and he has not been charged.
Police Scotland said in a statement that they had “received information and active inquiries are ongoing, but these are at a very early stage.” The police added that “the needs of victim survivors” were “at the heart of those enquiries” but said that they would not comment further on the investigation.
Mr. Epstein died by suicide in a Manhattan jail in 2019 while facing sex trafficking allegations. Ms. Maxwell, a former socialite, was convicted of sex trafficking for conspiring with Mr. Epstein to sexually exploit underage girls and women.
In February, the BBC reported that the Scottish police had appealed for information after flight logs released as part of the Epstein files showed Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor had flown into Edinburgh on Mr. Epstein’s private jet in September 2006. The flight log, released by the U.S. House Oversight Committee in October last year, showed that Ms. Maxwell was also on the plane, which traveled from Luton, England, to Edinburgh, but specified that Mr. Epstein was not on board during that trip.
An undated photo of Mr. Epstein and Ms. Maxwell lounging on the front porch of a log cabin was released during Ms. Maxwell’s trial, and the BBC determined at the time that the cabin featured in photos of the royal family taken at their Balmoral estate in Scotland. There had been speculation in the British press that Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor had hosted the pair at the royal residence.
The estate in the Scottish highlands was a favorite of Queen Elizabeth II, who spent time there every summer, and is now privately owned by King Charles III.
The Thames Valley Police, which oversees policing in the area of Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor’s longtime home on the Windsor estate in southern England, said earlier this year that it was assessing a report that a woman had been taken to an address in Windsor in 2010 for sexual purposes. No charges have been filed.
Scrutiny of Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor’s connection to Mr. Epstein led to a protracted fall from grace for the former prince, that saw him stripped of his royal titles and kicked out of his longtime home in Windsor. He now lives on King Charles III’s Sandringham Estate.