Prince Andrew. (Photo: Daniel Leal/ AFP)
The British police who are investigating Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the former prince, said on Friday that they may also investigate an allegation of sexual misconduct against him.
Andrew, the second son of the late Queen Elizabeth II, was arrested in February following new revelations about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, the American billionaire and convicted sex offender who died in 2019.
Detectives from the Thames Valley Police said on Friday that they had already spoken to the legal representative of a possible victim after complaints that the woman was taken to Windsor, a town north of London where Mountbatten-Windsor lived at the time, in 2010 “for sexual purposes”.
Police are also investigating allegations that Mountbatten-Windsor shared sensitive information with Epstein during his tenure as British trade envoy between 2001 and 2011.
According to the police service, they are “investigating various aspects of alleged misconduct after the Epstein files were made public in the US”.
In addition to the investigation into alleged misconduct in public office, the police said that “the assessment of reports that a woman was taken to an address in Windsor in 2010 for sexual purposes is still ongoing”.
Andrew, the former British prince. (Photo: CHRIS JACKSON / POOL / AFP)
“We have spoken to the woman’s legal representative to confirm that, if she wishes to report the matter to the police, it will be taken seriously and handled with care, sensitivity and respect for her privacy and right to anonymity,” say the police.
Police are also asking anyone with information to come forward.
After his arrest in February, Mountbatten-Windsor was interrogated for hours at a police station, among other things on suspicion of misconduct in public office during his time as British trade envoy.
Mountbatten-Windsor denies any wrongdoing and has not yet been charged.
He was stripped of his royal titles by King Charles III in October due to the growing scandal surrounding his links to Epstein.
He also had to leave Royal Lodge in Windsor, just north of London, and now lives on the king’s private Sandringham estate in Norfolk in the east of England.