One of the King’s most senior aides has been drawn into the Jeffrey Epstein scandal after it emerged that two royal protection officers stayed at the financier’s New York mansion for more than a week, despite his child sex offence conviction.
The decision to allow the elite officers to enjoy Epstein’s hospitality as they accompanied Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor on a trip to the United States in 2010 was overseen by Peter Loughborough, a former Scotland Yard commander who now serves as lord steward to the royal household.
The officers’ stay at the seven-storey Manhattan townhouse is disclosed in the latest batch of Epstein files released by the US Department of Justice.
Emails between Epstein and Andrew reveal the late paedophile personally offered to accommodate the policemen. One of the officers from the Metropolitan Police appears to have been handed the security code to the premises, allowing him and his colleague to enter at will.
Jeffrey Epstein’s seven-storey mansion on 71st Street in Manhattan
SCOTT HEINS/GETTY IMAGES
Their decision to stay at the property raises fresh questions about the Met’s judgment and the failure of the force to charge anyone in connection with the Epstein scandal.
Dai Davies, the Met’s former head of royal protection between 1994 and 1998, said the latest details were “incredibly damaging” for the force and called for an independent inquiry.
“I think it’s scandalous,” he told Times Radio on Sunday. “All these people — the royal protection officers, the press secretary — surely they should be interviewed. We need to understand what went wrong and ensure this cannot happen again.”
In December, the Met said it would be taking “no further action” after claims that, in February 2011, Andrew asked one of his personal protection officers (PPOs) to dig for information about Virginia Giuffre, the woman who accused him of sexually assaulting her on three separate occasions when she was 17. Andrew denies any wrongdoing.
Andrew with Virginia Giuffre and Ghislaine Maxwell in 2001
AFP
The officer involved in that incident is believed to have told investigators last year that he could not recall anything about the matter.
Epstein’s mansion on 71st Street, which featured a massage room adorned with paintings of naked women and bottles of lubricant, was frequently visited by young girls and is thought to have been the scene of multiple sex crimes over the years.
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The two Met PPOs stayed with Andrew at the house towards the end of 2010, when he was photographed with Epstein in nearby Central Park.
Andrew falsely told BBC Newsnight in 2019 that the sole purpose of the visit was to “cut ties” with the disgraced tycoon.
Documents included in the recently released Epstein files reveal that the trip lasted more than a week and suggest it included Andrew receiving a foot massage from a Russian model, a shopping spree at Barneys department store, and a lavish dinner party at the mansion, with guests such as Woody Allen and his wife, Soon-Yi Previn.
At one point during the visit, Epstein pleaded for “new girls” to be brought to the property, according to newly published correspondence.
On November 26, 2010, three days before Andrew arrived in New York, Epstein wrote: “I will have you picked up [from JFK airport]. Do you need a room for a security person?” Andrew replied: “Yes please. I have 2 in NY.”
A separate email sent on the same day by Amanda Thirsk, Andrew’s former private secretary, to Lesley Groff, Epstein’s executive assistant, asks: “Are you able to confirm whether there is room for both of his Protection Officers at the house? Julian Phillips one of the Protection Officers will arrive in the US on Sunday.”
Lesley Groff, the executive assistant to Epstein
PATRICK MCMULLAN/GETTY IMAGES
Andrew and Amanda Thirsk in 2019
YUI MOK/PA
Phillips arrived at the mansion the day before Andrew and his other PPO landed in New York on November 29.
That morning, Groff sent a request that the guards be given a temporary code to access the house. Epstein approved it later in the day.
Andrew and his protection officers did not leave New York until December 6 or 7. He remained in contact with Epstein for years afterwards.
The decision by the Met to allow the two PPOs to stay at Epstein’s $56 million home is likely to have come after a risk assessment to determine the best way of keeping Andrew safe.
The assessment would have identified that Epstein had been convicted of soliciting prostitution from a minor in June 2008 and sentenced to 18 months in prison.
On Saturday, it remained unclear if the Met had asked Andrew — and were overruled by him— to consider staying at an alternative address during the trip, such as an official British government residence.
A senior law enforcement source said the decision to approve the officers’ stay at the mansion is likely to have involved someone at a more senior level in Scotland Yard. Loughborough was head of the Met’s royalty and diplomatic protection department at the time.
Peter Loughborough receiving the Queen’s Police Medal from Queen Elizabeth in 2009
JOHNNY GREEN/PA
Known as Queen Elizabeth’s “favourite policeman”, he is a hereditary peer and 7th Earl of Rosslyn. He left the Met in 2014 to become master of the household to Charles, then the Prince of Wales. In 2023, he was appointed lord steward and personal secretary to the King and Queen.
It can also be revealed that Andrew stayed at Epstein’s luxury apartment on the Avenue Foch in Paris on two separate occasions in 2009 when the paedophile was still under house arrest.
Rekindling their long-standing friendship after Epstein was released from prison on probation, Andrew wrote on September 6, 2009: “I have to go to Paris this coming weekend … This is a private weekend and I am already booked into a hotel, but on the off-chance that you would allow me to use your apartment it would be really great from a number of perspectives.”
In an email sent to Epstein on December 23, 2009 after a second stay, Andrew wrote: “Thank you again for the use of your wonderful apartment in Paris.” Epstein’s staff have previously recalled seeing British police officers accompanying Andrew on his visits to the French property.
Phillips retired from the Met after more than 30 years at the force. In 2023 he was appointed a Member of the Royal Victorian Order for services to the royal household. He refused to answer questions when contacted on Friday.
A Met spokeswoman said: “Protection officers are held to the same high standards of professional behaviour as all police officers. They know their actions will be open to scrutiny. While we do not comment on matters related to protective security, we can confirm that at this time, we have not identified any wrongdoing by any protection officers in relation to these matters.”
A Palace source said anything to do with Loughborough’s time as a police officer was a matter for the Met, but that such a deployment would not have required his direct approval.