Scottish Police Open Inquiry Into Epstein Visit At Balmoral

Police Scotland has opened an investigation into the time former Prince Andrew spent with Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell at the King's Balmoral estate. The force announced the inquiry on Friday, stating that officers are at a very early stage after receiving information. Police Scotland did not specify what information prompted the probe or what offenses officers are investigating. The Daily Express first reported the investigation and stated the inquiries concern claims that women were trafficked to the private estate in the Scottish Highlands.

Images released by the U.S. Department of Justice show Epstein and Maxwell on a shooting trip at Balmoral in 1999. The photos were published earlier this year among millions of pages of documents released as Congress probed Epstein's links to politicians and business leaders. The presence of a name or image in the files is not proof of wrongdoing.

Police Scotland said all inquiries are evidence-led with the needs of victim survivors at the heart of those inquiries. The force declined to comment further on ongoing matters.

Several other U.K. police forces are also investigating information released in the Epstein files, including the Metropolitan Police Service in London, Thames Valley Police, and Surrey Police. In February, Thames Valley officers arrested Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly Prince Andrew, on suspicion of misconduct in public office based on information released in the Epstein Files. The 66-year-old brother of King Charles III was held for several hours and released on police bail pending further investigation. It marked the first arrest of a senior British royal in nearly four centuries.

Mountbatten-Windsor has denied committing any crimes. His links to Epstein have caused difficulties for the royal family for almost two decades. With U.S. authorities preparing to release documents related to their investigation into Epstein, the King moved late last year to strip his brother of his princely title. Mountbatten-Windsor was also ordered to leave the Royal Lodge, his longtime home near Windsor Castle. He now lives at Sandringham, the King's estate in eastern England.

The relationship has been under scrutiny since 2008, when Epstein pleaded guilty to soliciting a minor for prostitution. In 2011, Virginia Giuffre alleged she was trafficked by Epstein and forced to have sex with Mountbatten-Windsor when she was 17. Mountbatten-Windsor addressed the allegations in a 2019 BBC interview but faced criticism for his explanations and for failing to show empathy for Epstein's victims.