Stripped of his royal titles over his ties to Jeffrey Epstein, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the younger brother of King Charles III, has quietly departed Royal Lodge, his longtime residence, more than three months after Buckingham Palace said he would leave the property.
Mountbatten-Windsor, the former prince and Duke of York, is now living in temporary accommodations at Sandringham, an estate owned by the king. His relocation was confirmed by a palace official amid renewed scrutiny of the royal family’s ties to Epstein, the late financier and convicted sex offender.
The latest tranche of Epstein-related documents released by the Justice Department included photographs that appeared to show Mountbatten-Windsor crouched over a woman on the floor.
Although Buckingham Palace announced in October that Mountbatten-Windsor would vacate Royal Lodge, as part of a brusque statement that also confirmed he would no longer use his prince title, he had remained at the 30-room Windsor property for months while alternative housing arrangements were said to be under development.
Just on Monday, Mountbatten-Windsor was photographed riding horse near Royal Lodge.
Mountbatten-Windsor is staying at Wood Farm Cottage, a private five-bedroom cottage on the Sandringham estate, while his longer-term accommodation undergoes renovations, the BBC reported, underscoring the suddenness of his move.
With each new release of Epstein-related documents, scrutiny of Mountbatten-Windsor has intensified. In addition to the photographs, the latest disclosures also include an email from someone listed as “The Duke” suggesting that Epstein come to dinner at Buckingham Palace.
The documents have also drawn renewed attention to Epstein’s close relationship with Mountbatten-Windsor’s former wife, Sarah Ferguson, who described Epstein as “the brother I have always wished for.”
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has suggested that Mountbatten-Windsor should testify before the U.S. Congress regarding his links to Epstein. Mountbatten-Windsor has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.
In its October statement, the palace said Mountbatten-Windsor’s lease at Royal Lodge had provided him with legal protection to remain in the residence but that formal notice had been served requiring him to surrender the lease and move to an alternative private accommodation.
British tabloids reported that King Charles had been privately keen for Mountbatten-Windsor to relinquish Royal Lodge for some time amid ongoing criticism of his Epstein-related controversies. Calls for his eviction intensified last fall following the publication of “Nobody’s Girl,” a memoir by Virginia Giuffre, one of Epstein’s victims.
In the book, Giuffre alleges she was trafficked as a teenager by Epstein and forced to have sex with Mountbatten-Windsor on three occasions. Separately, it had emerged that Mountbatten-Windsor had paid only “one peppercorn” in symbolic rent for Royal Lodge for more than two decades.
In October, palace officials said Mountbatten-Windsor would move to Sandringham and would be supported personally by the king through his private funds.
His relocation comes as the Thames Valley Police confirmed Wednesday that they were assessing allegations that a second woman was sent to the U.K. by Epstein for sex with Mountbatten-Windsor.
According to the woman’s lawyer, who spoke to the BBC, the alleged incident occurred at Royal Lodge in 2010.
In a statement, Thames Valley Police said it was “aware of reports about a woman said to have been taken to an address in Windsor in 2010 for sexual purposes. We are assessing the information in line with our established procedures.”
The police said that “these allegations have not been reported to Thames Valley Police by either the lawyer or their client.”
An anti-monarchist campaign group, Republic, said in a statement that it had reported Mountbatten-Windsor to the police. Reviewing a claim does not necessarily mean a full investigation will follow.
Sandringham, a sprawling estate of approximately 20,000 acres in Norfolk, also has been featured in the Epstein files. One photograph in an earlier batch of documents shows Mountbatten-Windsor reclining across the laps of five people, with Epstein’s accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell standing behind him. Sky News reported that the image was taken at Sandringham after cross-referencing it with other photographs.
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