Years after Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes first shocked the world, the controversy surrounding his links to the British royal family continues to cast a long shadow over the monarchy.
Historians and investigators say the reason the story refuses to fade is simple. Too many questions remain unanswered about Epstein’s powerful connections, and crucial records that might shed light on them may no longer exist.
Historian and royal biographer Andrew Lownie says efforts to understand Epstein’s ties to the royal orbit have been repeatedly obstructed by missing documents.
“One of the problems with researching this area is that so much of the material... once it gets into the hands of the British government, it seems to be destroyed,” Lownie told The Daily Beast Podcast host Joanna Coles.
They added: “The logs, for example, for Buckingham Palace, which people have asked to see—first of all—were withheld on national security grounds and then it was said that they’d been destroyed."
The controversy is closely linked to Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, whose long association with Epstein has become one of the most damaging scandals to affect the royal family in decades.
But Lownie argues the story goes far beyond a royal scandal involving Epstein and the former Duke of York.
“The tentacles were spread so widely into so many different countries, my own feeling is this is a story actually about national security,” Lownie said.
“About how it’s very easy for intelligence services to penetrate Britain using the royal family because they have no oversight and some of them are very greedy.”
According to Lownie, the steady release of documents and testimony related to Epstein’s network has continued to widen the scope of the investigation.
“Each day brings fresh disclosures, fresh connections,” he said.
“I’m certainly getting a lot of people coming forward, particularly in the last few weeks, with stories.”
He believes the full picture may take years to emerge as authorities work through the large amount of material linked to Epstein.
“There’s clearly a lot of material in the Epstein files that would seem to me pretty conclusive about what he did,” he said.
“But they may want to question a whole series of people and mounting that case will take time.”
The scandal has also triggered political debate about Mountbatten-Windsor’s future position in the royal line of succession.
Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney recently called for him to be removed from the line of succession following allegations that he shared confidential material with Epstein. Mountbatten-Windsor was arrested last month on suspicion of misconduct in public office.
Andrew has previously denied wrongdoing in relation to Epstein and has not responded to requests for comment on the latest allegations.
Speaking to reporters in Tokyo, Carney said the former royal’s actions were “deplorable” and should lead to his removal from the succession.
“Even though he is well down the line, the point of principle stands,” Carney said.
In Britain, ministers have confirmed that the government is considering legislation to remove Mountbatten-Windsor from the line of succession. Defence Minister Luke Pollard said the move would be the “right thing to do”, regardless of the outcome of the police investigation.
