The royal family is basking in the conclusion of a triumphant tour to the United States, and you can take your pick of the U.K. papers’ celebratory pieces detailing how King Charles has stepped out from his mother’s shadow, and so on, and so on…
The tour was a great success. But now Charles is back home, where a massive scandal still hangs over him, one which has already done enormous damage to his reign. That, of course, is his brother Andrew’s involvement with thelate sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
A sickening new piece in London’sThe Sunday Timesdelves deeper into the relationship between Andrew and one-time British Ambassador to the United States Peter Mandelson, who, as readers ofThe Royalistwill know, once had a close relationship with Charles himself.
Disgraced Labour politician Mandelson was brought on board by Charles in the months before Diana’s death as part of “Project Camilla,” the campaign to rehabilitate then-Camilla Parker Bowles with the public, alongside PR expert Mark Bolland.
After Diana died, Mandelson became one of the regular recipients of Charles’s late-night phone calls in which the prince would moan about his life and portrayal in the media.
The Sunday Times investigation traces the Andrew-Mandelson relationship, which was made notorious by that photograph of Andrew and Mandelson in bathrobes, sitting with Epstein, apparently having just climbed out of a hot tub or sauna. It is thought to have been taken on Martha’s Vineyard.
It now appears that Mandelson and Andrew first met—unbelievably—at a lunch to support the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, a leading U.K. charity that works to protect young people from violence and abuse. The pair were brought together in 1999 at Andrew’s apartment in Buckingham Palace, where they ate plaice in a cream sauce.
The Times has a doleful interview with Giles Pegram, the former director of fundraising at the NSPCC, who says, “It’s horrible. Can anyone blame me for having brought Andrew and Mandelson together, given the circumstances at the time? Do I regret it? Yes, obviously I do. If I knew then what I know now, I wouldn’t have done it. If there was a scandal that was related to children, we wouldn’t have come within a mile of it.”
I do feel for this guy, who was obviously just trying to do his best and bring together powerful people for a good cause.
It also turns out that both Andrew and Mandelson knew Ghislaine Maxwell independently, and Alan Dershowitz, Epstein’s lawyer at the time, is quoted in the piece describing them spending time together on Martha’s Vineyard.
In 2000, Andrew was being lined up to be given the post of U.K. Special Representative for International Trade and Investment by the government in which Mandelson was a powerful figure. Charles was reportedly very concerned about it, regarding it as “a disaster waiting to happen.”
A U.K. security official is quoted as saying the appointment “would never have happened if it weren’t for Mandelson’s advocacy.” So Mandelson, friend of Epstein, is instrumental in Andrew getting the trade envoy gig that gave him cover to gallivant around the globe, often to Epstein’s benefit.
Alastair Watson, Andrew’s private secretary from 2003 to 2012, told The Sunday Times, “They got on very well. Mandelson used to be charming and smooth and reflect what the people he’s talking to want to hear, so it was very cordial.” He added: “Mandelson, one of his great gifts is to put everyone at ease… however well he knows them.”
The piece goes on to detail the deepening relationship—the invitations back and forth, the parties, the visits to royal residences. It is a must-read.
Also in The Sunday Times is a significant story on Prince William’s finances. The paper reveals that the Prince of Wales pays up to £7 million ($9.5 million) in income tax a year, putting him in the top 0.002 percent of taxpayers in the U.K.
