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Documents show Queen Elizabeth was “very keen” that Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the former prince, be given the job of U.K. trade envoy.
The U.K. government on Thursday released the confidential papers related to Andrew’s appointment, after a request in Parliament three months ago from Liberal Democratic Party Leader Ed Davey.
“The Queen is very keen that the Duke of York should take on a prominent role in the promotion of national interests,” the head of Britain’s trade body wrote in a 2000 letter, referring to Andrew by his other title.
Another document, a government memo sent to U.K. trade staff around the world, says that Andrew’s “high public profile” will require “careful and sometimes strict media management.”
Trade Minister Chris Bryant said in a written statement to lawmakers that “we have found no evidence that a formal due diligence or vetting process was undertaken” before Andrew was appointed to the role.
“There is also no evidence that this was considered. This is understandable since this new appointment was a continuation of the royal family’s involvement in trade and investment promotion work.”
WATCH | The timeline of Andrew’s troubles:
Arrested: The fall of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor | About That
Police in England arrested Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the former prince and brother of King Charles, on suspicion of misconduct in public office. Andrew Chang explains the allegations against Mountbatten-Windsor and their connection to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Images provided by The Canadian Press, Reuters and Getty Images
Mountbatten-Windsor was the first member of the Royal Family to be arrested in more than three centuries earlier this year when he was questioned by officers on suspicion of misconduct in public office.
The involvement of the Queen, who died in 2022, will confirm previously held beliefs that the monarch held a soft spot for her son — an empathy that might have influenced her lack of decisiveness in dealing with allegations of Andrew’s friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted sex offender who died in jail in 2019 while facing more charges.
Andrew was stripped of his royal title last year as King Charles tried to insulate the monarchy from the growing fallout from the Epstein scandal. Canada and Australia have called for Andrew to be removed from the royal line of succession.
Andrew moved to the King’s private Sandringham Estate, about 160 kilometres north of London, after he was evicted from his longtime home near Windsor Castle as part of the censures. Earlier this month, while walking with a protection team officer, Andrew was allegedly accosted by a man who was subsequently arrested.
The former prince served as a special envoy for international trade from 2001 to 2011, when he was forced to give up the role because of concerns about his links to questionable figures in Libya and Azerbaijan.
In the past year, British media reports have also questioned the relationship between Andrew and a banker friend, and whether he provided that banker with a confidential Treasury brief regarding Iceland’s banking industry.
In the U.S., several lawmakers from both major parties would like to see Andrew provide testimony to a U.S. House committee that is following up on the Justice Department’s release of millions of pages of documents related to Epstein.
Those files showed how the wealthy financier used an international web of rich, powerful friends to gain influence and sexually exploit young women and girls.
Andrew has always denied any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein, even as he settled a civil lawsuit in 2022 that compensated Virginia Giuffre, a Florida native who alleged that Andrew sexually assaulted her. Giuffre said in interviews and a memoir published after her death that she was recruited by Epstein’s former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell while she was working for a brief time in a spa at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort.
Maxwell was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2022 for charges that included child sex trafficking and conspiracy to transport minors to participate in illegal sex, stemming from incidents that occurred between 1994 and 2004.
