LONDON – The woman at the center of the most serious allegation now facing Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor has not spoken to police. Her lawyer has. That distinction, narrow as it sounds, may be the one that determines whether Britain’s largest royal criminal investigation remains a trade-secrets case or becomes something far more consequential.
Thames Valley Police confirmed in late May that their misconduct in public office investigation – which began with allegations that the former Duke of York passed classified trade documents to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein – could now extend to potential sexual offences. The force said it had made contact with lawyers representing a woman who has alleged she was brought to an address in Windsor in 2010 for sexual purposes, describing the encounter as having been arranged by Epstein.
The development transforms what prosecutors might once have framed as a narrow breach of official duties into a probe touching on some of the most serious criminal territory in British law. Misconduct in public office, the charge under which Mountbatten-Windsor was arrested in February, already carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. Its legal definition is broader than its name suggests. Under British common law, the offence can encompass sexual misconduct, financial corruption, wilful neglect of duty, and improper use of an official position – meaning specialist officers do not need to treat the sexual allegation as an entirely separate matter.
The allegation at Royal Lodge was first reported by the BBC in January, citing the American lawyer Brad Edwards of Edwards Henderson, who said his client – a woman who was in her 20s at the time and is not British – was sent to Britain by Epstein and that, after spending a night with Mountbatten-Windsor, was taken on a tour of Buckingham Palace. Mountbatten-Windsor has consistently and strongly denied all allegations of wrongdoing. His representatives did not respond to requests for comment.
The Thames Valley force was explicit that it has not yet spoken directly to the woman. Survivors and their advocates have long warned that British institutional reluctance to pursue royal figures has silenced women who might otherwise have come forward. On this occasion, detectives say they are trying to remove that obstacle. The force said it had confirmed to the woman’s legal representative that any disclosure she made would be handled with “care, sensitivity and respect for her privacy and her right for anonymity,” and that engagement would be led entirely by her wishes, “when and if she feels ready and able.”
Oliver Wright, assistant chief constable for Thames Valley Police, said the investigation had assembled a dedicated team of experienced specialist investigators, including detectives with backgrounds in serious sexual offences and financial crime. He confirmed that a number of witnesses had been spoken to, while urging others with knowledge of Mountbatten-Windsor’s relationship with Epstein to make contact with the force. The Crown Prosecution Service has not yet been asked to provide early investigative advice, which means any decision on charging remains some way off.
The investigation’s expansion into sexual offence territory comes directly from the breadth of the misconduct statute. Thames Valley detectives are understood to be concerned that public attention has narrowed the perceived scope of their inquiry to the Epstein trade-briefing emails – documents released by the U.S. Department of Justice in January that appeared to show Mountbatten-Windsor forwarding classified reports on official visits to Hong Kong, Vietnam, and Singapore to Epstein within minutes of receiving them, as well as sharing what he described as “a confidential brief” on investment opportunities in Afghanistan. The force has taken pains to signal that this understanding is incomplete.
The inquiry is also acquiring new dimensions from other police forces. The Metropolitan Police, which covers London, confirmed it is reviewing records related to its own past assessments of allegations against Mountbatten-Windsor, including files relating to the late Virginia Giuffre. Thames Valley detectives are understood to have made contact with the Met to obtain that material. Giuffre, who died by suicide in April 2025, had accused Mountbatten-Windsor of sexually assaulting her on three occasions when she was 17, allegations he denied. In 2022, he reached a settlement with her reportedly worth around $16 million, according to the Guardian, that avoided a civil trial.
Giuffre’s brother, Sky Roberts, told media after the arrest that his family welcomed the investigation as “a huge step in the right direction,” adding that the willingness of law enforcement to actively seek out survivors represented a meaningful change. He also called on American authorities to hand over unredacted Justice Department files to Thames Valley Police, noting that the British force has so far been working from publicly released material alone. Whether the U.S. government will cooperate with a formal British investigative request remains an open question.
The Epstein files have placed a series of British institutions under exceptional strain, with the royal family, Parliament, and police all facing scrutiny over their historical handling of allegations connected to the late financier. Mountbatten-Windsor’s arrest in February, on his 66th birthday, was the first time a senior member of the British royal family had been taken into police custody in modern history. King Charles III said after the arrest that “the law must take its course” and that he would not be commenting further on his brother’s case.
Mountbatten-Windsor was stripped of his remaining royal titles by his brother in October 2025, following years of accumulating controversy over his friendship with Epstein. He was forced to leave Royal Lodge – the Windsor residence where the 2010 allegation is said to have taken place – and relocated to a smaller privately funded property on the Sandringham estate. That same residence was searched by Thames Valley officers for hours following his February arrest. Searches at Royal Lodge continued for six days before concluding.
British documents released by the government in May also showed that Mountbatten-Windsor was never formally vetted before his appointment as a UK trade envoy in 2001, a role he held until 2011, and that his appointment had been championed by his mother, the late Queen Elizabeth II. He had described himself to Epstein in that period as able to provide access that would be of commercial interest.
What happens next depends, in material part, on what a woman who has not yet spoken to police decides to do. Legal experts cited in British coverage have noted that without a formal complaint from the alleged victim in the 2010 allegation, building a standalone sexual offence case would be significantly harder. The misconduct statute gives investigators more flexibility, but the Crown Prosecution Service will ultimately weigh whether the evidence threshold for charging is met. That assessment, Thames Valley Police has acknowledged, is unlikely to be reached for some time.
The investigation has no public end date. Other threads running alongside the Windsor inquiry – including the pilot testimony and the wider Epstein network – continue to surface new details that investigators are absorbing. Whether that produces charges, or concludes with a decision not to prosecute, remains to be seen. What is already established is that this is no longer only a case about trade secrets.
