LONDON - With a dash of his characteristic bluster and arrogance, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor famously shrugged off the party he hosted at Sandringham Estate as ‘a straightforward shooting weekend’.
However, an extraordinary picture, released as part of a damning trove of 300 000 documents from the so-called Epstein Files, has this weekend raised new questions about exactly what took place at one of the royal family’s most cherished residences.
The black-and-white image shows Andrew, who was stripped of his royal titles last month, sprawling across the laps of five elegantly dressed women.
Neither the date nor location of the picture was released, but The Mail on Sunday can reveal it captures a raucous scene from a party hosted by Andrew for paedophile Jeffrey Epstein and his girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwellat Sandringham in early December 2000, to mark Maxwell’s 39th birthday.
And, in contrast to Andrew’s description of the gathering, allegations have emerged of a debauched event at Queen Elizabeth’s beloved private home in Norfolk.
Lubricants, condoms and drugs to enhance sexual experiences were all found after the party, according to a bombshell book. Although not pictured, depraved financier Epstein, accused of abusing 1 200 women and girls, is understood to have attended the party.
The Windsor Legacy by Robert Jobson claims that bathrooms were littered with the paraphernalia, including sex drugs called poppers.
Citing a ‘palace source’, Jobson writes: ‘‘Staff were stunned to discover the bathrooms were stocked not only with toiletries, but poppers, lube and condoms.’’
The photograph shows Andrew – grinning for the camera in a bow tie and dinner jacket – with his face close to the naked legs of one of the women, all of whom have had their identities protected by US Government lawyers.
With a dash of his characteristic bluster and arrogance, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor famously shrugged off the party he hosted at Sandringham Estate as ‘a straightforward shooting weekend’. (Daily Mail)