By Marisa Laudadio
2:00pm PST, Mar 3, 2026
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Newly released emails have raised fresh questions about how
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor's taxpayer-funded police protection detail was used when he spent time with predator
Jeffrey Epstein.
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Newly public emails from a U.S. Justice Department Jeffrey Epstein files document release reveal that officers from London's Metropolitan Police assigned to protect Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor were instructed to provide security for a 2010 dinner party at Epstein's New York City home. The messages suggest two taxpayer-funded police officers guarded the door of the disgraced financier's Manhattan townhouse while guests allegedly gathered in the former Duke of York's honor, Britain's
Daily Express reported.
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In a 2019 interview with the BBC's
Newsnight, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor claimed he traveled to New York City in late 2010 to sever ties with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, who by that time was a registered offender having pleaded guilty to solicitation in Florida two years earlier. Previously published emails suggested the former Prince Andrew stayed with Epstein much longer than the few days he'd said he'd needed to break off their friendship in person. Now newly released emails show Epstein also offered to accommodate the ex-royal's protection officers at his seven-story mansion on Manhattan's Upper East Side.
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One email sent by a staff member to Jeffrey Epstein the night before the December 2, 2010, dinner party laid out instructions for the security detail. "The Duke's 2 protection officers along with state security will all be here for tomorrow's dinner party … Rich has given them instructions on the door. Do you wish Rich to stay for the party or is it ok for him to go home?" the message read. One of the officers, Julian Phillips, was reportedly given access codes allowing him to enter Epstein's property freely. U.S. diplomatic protection officers were also present at the event, which drew guests including Woody Allen, Katie Couric, George Stephanopoulos and Chelsea Handler, according to the Daily Express.
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The Metropolitan Police announced that it is now reviewing the newly released documents and contacting former officers who worked with Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. "They have been asked to consider carefully whether anything they saw or heard … may be relevant to our ongoing reviews," police said. The Met also confirmed it is "aware of the suggestion that London airports may have been used to facilitate human trafficking and … exploitation" and is "assessing this information…" The former Duke of York has previously denied any wrongdoing with regard to his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein.
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Renewed scrutiny comes as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor faces mounting legal trouble. In February 2026, the former Duke of York — whose royal titles were stripped away by his brother King Charles III in late 2025 — was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office weeks after the U.S. Justice Department released emails suggesting he had passed along sensitive government documents to Jeffrey Epstein while serving as a U.K. trade envoy.
