Epstein emails raise questions over role of Andrew's palace aide

An aide to Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was asked by sex offender Jeffrey Epstein about arranging a dinner with a "beautiful friend" of his, nearly three years after the then-prince claimed to have cut ties, new emails show.

"I have a very beautiful friend comoing [sic] to london on tues. ANdrew might want to have her for a dinner," Epstein wrote in October 2013 to David Stern.

Emails appear to show Stern, a trusted royal insider, acted as a go-between for the pair after the then-Duke's relationship with Epstein began to receive scrutiny following his 2008 conviction for soliciting sex from a minor.

Mountbatten-Windsor has always denied any wrongdoing. The BBC has tried to contact Stern for comment.

No further correspondence confirms whether Mountbatten-Windsor met Epstein's "friend".

Other emails seen by the BBC suggest that Stern, an enigmatic figure with little online presence, also invited Epstein to a dinner at Windsor Castle in 2017 - nearly a decade after he was convicted of child sex offences.

The latest email, released by the US Department of Justice, from Epstein suggesting that "Andrew" meet his "beautiful friend" is sent three years after he had separately suggested that "The Duke" might enjoy having dinner with a 26-year-old Russian woman in August 2010.

Correspondence seen by the BBC, released by the DOJ, shows that Stern regularly communicated with Epstein about royal business and personal affairs from at least 2009 to 2017, by which point he was acting as a director of Mountbatten-Windsor's company Pitch@Palace - a Dragons' Den-style start-up competition where entrepreneurs could present their ideas to potential investors.

Stern, an investor and German national, resigned as a director of Pitch@Palace in 2019. He was also a director of the St George's House Trust, based in Windsor Castle, from 2016 until 2022.

In April 2017, Stern emails Epstein - nearly a decade after his conviction - to say that he was organising a "super" dinner at Windsor Castle in May that year, asking "who else" he should invite.

In another email, dated the same day, Epstein appears to have the power to directly invite another business associate of his to the Windsor dinner, writing: "I know you hate london do [sic] want a dinner invite at windsor castle with the top Chinese. biz people? may 26".

The recipient asks Epstein if he will be present at the dinner, to which he responds: "no, I have a havard [sic] event", potentially implying he was invited but unable to attend.

The emails suggest that Epstein continued to have a much more influential and closer relationship with Mountbatten-Windsor and royal residences in the years after the former Duke had claimed to BBC Newsnight to have cut contact with him in December 2010.

In 2014, Stern messages Epstein to say that "PA [Prince Andrew] sends his birthday wishes and love" alongside a picture of him with the then-Duke and Duchess of York.

The message apparently from Stern also wishes Epstein "Happy Birthday" and shares a crude photo of champagne being poured down a naked woman, adding: "Champagne for you (even though you don't drink it)".

He appears to keep in frequent contact with Epstein about his work and access to the Palace, emailing Epstein in 2010 that he was at Prince Andrew's "birthday party" and boasting about the famous celebrities he had encountered.

Other emails seem to show that Stern had also acted around this time as a conduit between Epstein and Sarah Ferguson, the former Duchess of York.

In 2011, emails include one from Stern's account which sent Epstein a message from "Sarah" mentioning "The Duke", in which she congratulates him on the apparent birth of a "baby boy".

After the crash of a business venture in 2009, Ferguson also appears to write to Epstein: "I urgently need 20,000 pounds ($27,521) for rent today" following an exchange with Stern, which she is copied into.

A spokesman for Sarah Ferguson previously told the BBC that she was told to congratulate Epstein on a baby but has no knowledge beyond that.

Further emails, as part of the three million published last week, also shed new light on Epstein's apparent invitation to have dinner with "The Duke" at Buckingham Palace in 2010, and that the sex offender requested to bring three women along with him.

On 27 September that year, Epstein emails "The Duke" to say that he is in London and asks what time Mountbatten-Windsor would like him and a woman, who the BBC is not naming.

"The Duke" suggests they could have "dinner" at Buckingham Palace and "lots of privacy", to which Epstein agrees, responding that he is with three women.

Epstein asks if he should "bring them all, so as to add some life", in the email exchanges. "Yes. Plenty of space here for chat! Bring them," says "The Duke".

In a previous email, sent months prior, Epstein had described one of the women as "a great friend" and "very pretty" after "The Duke" asked who she was.

Another email, sent the evening before the dinner, appears to show that Epstein had also personally invited a fourth woman to the Buckingham Palace meet-up, asking if she wanted to join and that she agreed.

The BBC has approached Mountbatten-Windsor for comment. He has always denied any wrongdoing arising out of his association with Epstein.

The BBC has spent days trying to contact Stern for comment.