Investigators want to speak to a woman who said she was taken to Mountbatten-Windsor's home in Windsor "for sexual purposes," and are urging more potential victims to come forward Sky News and several media outlets reported.
Mountbatten-Windsor was briefly arrested earlier this year on suspicion of misconduct in public office after new revelations in the case of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein were made in the United States. At the time, the suspicions against the ex-prince included that he had provided potentially classified information to the now-deceased Epstein during his time as a trade envoy. Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor has denied all allegations.
“Believe wrongly”
A special team of investigators within Thames Valley Police is now concerned that other victims related to Epstein and Mountbatten-Windsor may refrain from coming forward if they believe the police investigation is limited.
"People mistakenly believe we are investigating financial crime, but nothing could be further from the truth," a police source told Sky News, explaining that "malfeasance" covers a wide range of matters, including sexual offences, fraud, corruption and other crimes.
Accused by Giuffre
British investigators are also waiting for unedited versions of the Epstein files, which could be important for further work.
The investigation is expected to be lengthy, and any potential trial is not expected to be held until 2027 if evidence emerges to support prosecution.
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor has previously been accused by American Virginia Giuffre of having sex with her when she was a minor at Jeffrey Epstein's home. The former prince denied the allegations but reached a financial settlement with Giuffre out of court in 2022.
Giuffre is no longer alive. Her death last year was ruled a suicide.
Background: The twists surrounding Jeffrey Epstein
An investigation into businessman Jeffrey Epstein began in 2005 after a 14-year-old girl told police she had been molested by him at his home in Palm Beach, Florida. The investigation grew and in 2007 he was indicted in federal court.
After a plea deal with prosecutors, Epstein was sentenced to 18 months in prison for sex trafficking in 2008. He was released after 13 months.
The case received renewed attention in 2018 after a series of articles in the Miami Herald in which several women came forward and accused Epstein of sexual assault during the period 2001 to 2005.
In July 2019, Epstein was arrested at an airport in New Jersey. The new charges against him concerned the abuse of dozens of underage girls between 2002 and 2005. According to the prosecution, Epstein tried to buy the silence of witnesses with millions of dollars. Epstein denied the crime.
On August 10, 2019, Jeffrey Epstein was found dead in his cell in Manhattan's New York City jail. He was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead. His death is believed to have been a suicide, but this is disputed.
A prominent plaintiff against Epstein was Virginia Giuffre, who died by suicide in 2025. She claimed that Epstein’s convicted accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell discovered her at Donald Trump’s Florida spa when she was 17 and hired her as Epstein’s masseuse - his “sex slave.” Giuffre also accused Britain’s then-Prince Andrew of rape, which ended in an out-of-court settlement between the parties.
