LONDON
In 2000, Queen Elizabeth was “very keen” for then-Prince Andrew – now a former royal under a legal cloud over his ties to a convicted sex offender – to become a British trade envoy, according to newly disclosed documents.
In a February 2000 memo addressed to then-Foreign Secretary Robin Cook, Sir David Wright, who was then the CEO of British Trade International, said that the queen wanted her son to take on a “prominent role in the promotion of national interests.”
The release followed a parliamentary motion by Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey this February requesting government ministers publish all papers connected to the creation of the envoy role.
Davey’s request came days after the former prince, now known as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office related to the sharing of confidential material with convicted US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. He was later released under investigation.
Mountbatten-Windsor has consistently denied wrongdoing related to his association with Epstein – who amassed a fortune as a financier before being convicted over sex crimes – and rejected claims of personal gain linked to his trade role.
According to files released this January, in October 2010, Andrew sent Epstein details of his upcoming official trips as trade envoy to Singapore, Vietnam, the Chinese city of Shenzhen, and Hong Kong, and the following month apparently shared official reports from the trips.
Epstein died in custody at a New York detention facility in 2019 while awaiting prosecution on human trafficking allegations. His 2008 guilty plea in the US state of Florida resulted in a conviction for soliciting prostitution from an underage girl.
