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Roula Khalaf, the FT’s Editor-in-Chief, handpicks her preferred narratives for this periodical bulletin.
Law enforcement officials on Friday persisted in examining the erstwhile dwelling of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor in Windsor Great Park, a day after the former royal’s detention on allegations of malfeasance in official capacity subsequent to disclosures in the Epstein dossiers.
Broadcast media accounts depicted discreet police automobiles pulling up to Royal Lodge before 8am to proceed with the inquiries which commenced in the early hours of Thursday.
The Thames Valley constabulary conveyed late on Thursday that operations would persist at the Windsor location. It stated it had concluded its examinations at Mountbatten-Windsor’s present abode on the royal family’s Sandringham estate in Norfolk, where his apprehension occurred on Thursday morning.
The police force on Friday declared it had no additional comments regarding the anticipated duration of its presence at Royal Lodge or any subsequent phases of the investigation.
Media outlets on Thursday night displayed images of Mountbatten-Windsor’s departing by vehicle from Alysham Police Investigation Centre, north of Norwich, subsequent to almost eleven hours of interrogation following his detention.
Despite refraining from identifying him by name, Thames Valley Police verified that “a man in his sixties” had been discharged pending further inquiry after being apprehended on suspicion of malfeasance in public office.
Mountbatten-Windsor has issued no declaration whatsoever since October, although he has steadfastly refuted any impropriety, regarding sexual matters or his commercial dealings.
King Charles, his brother, declared in a pronouncement on Thursday: “Allow justice to proceed.”
Mountbatten-Windsor relocated from Royal Lodge to Sandringham earlier in the current month. His 75-year, unpaid tenancy agreement over the Windsor property was concluded the previous year amidst prior disclosures about his associations with Epstein. Royal Lodge is owned by the state-owned Crown Estate, while Sandringham is part of the royal family’s privately held land.
In addition to the inquiry into malfeasance, Thames Valley Police said earlier this month that it was evaluating data from an American attorney acting on behalf of a female client who asserted she had been trafficked in 2010 to Windsor “for purposes of sexual exploitation”.
Numerous British constabularies are evaluating data from the Epstein dossiers, comprising details regarding potential illicit transport of females on private aircraft via British air terminals.
Mountbatten-Windsor was a dedicated delegate for UK commerce and capital from 2001 until 2011, when he demitted office amidst contention over his associations with Epstein, who had been found guilty of soliciting sexual acts from an underage individual in 2008. Epstein was discovered deceased within a New York detention cell in 2019 while pending judicial proceedings for additional human trafficking indictments.
The multitude of documents unveiled by the United States Justice Department subsequent to its inquiry concerning Epstein show that Mountbatten-Windsor collaborated intimately with Epstein and his cohorts in a variety of domains, consistently exchanging data and commercial concepts.
The dossiers implied that during an official tour to the United Arab Emirates with his mother, the late Queen Elizabeth, Mountbatten-Windsor advocated on Epstein’s behalf to the country’s external affairs minister. They also revealed he disseminated some privileged data furnished to him in his capacity as a commercial envoy.