A newly discovered photograph showing Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and Peter Mandelson sitting with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein has emerged from documents released by the United States Department of Justice, marking the first known image of the three men together.
The image, uncovered within a massive archive of material made public earlier this year, shows the men seated around a wooden deck table with mugs decorated with the United States flag placed in front of them. No date or exact location is listed in the documents, although reports suggest the photograph was taken in Martha’s Vineyard in the United States between 1999 and 2000.
The image was reported by ITV News and is believed to predate Epstein’s conviction in 2008, when he was sentenced to 13 months in prison and registered as a sex offender. Authorities have made clear that the presence of individuals in the released files does not automatically imply wrongdoing.
The photograph forms part of a massive tranche of documents released by the Department of Justice that includes approximately three million pages, 180,000 images and more than 2,000 videos linked to investigations surrounding Epstein and his associates. Journalists and members of the public continue to examine the archive, with new material still being uncovered.
Both Mountbatten-Windsor and Lord Mandelson have previously been arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office in connection with their historical associations with Epstein. Both men were later released under investigation.
Mountbatten-Windsor has consistently denied any wrongdoing relating to Epstein. He has previously said he first met the financier in 1999 through Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s British associate, whom he had known since her university years.
Lord Mandelson has also maintained that he did not commit any criminal offence. He has long argued that he initially accepted Epstein’s and his legal team’s explanation of events and only became aware of the full extent of the allegations after Epstein’s death in 2019.
Their past links to Epstein have already had significant consequences for both men. Mountbatten-Windsor was stripped of his royal titles following mounting scrutiny over his relationship with the late financier, while Lord Mandelson was dismissed from his role as the United Kingdom’s ambassador to the United States after previously undisclosed communications with Epstein surfaced.
Mountbatten-Windsor has also faced civil allegations brought by Virginia Giuffre, who accused him of sexual misconduct when she was a teenager. The lawsuit was later settled without any admission of liability, and he has repeatedly denied the claims.
Additional photographs involving Mountbatten-Windsor have also surfaced in earlier document releases. Some of those images appear to show him kneeling over an unidentified fully clothed woman lying on the ground while touching her stomach. In another photograph he is seen looking directly at the camera. He has strongly rejected any suggestion of wrongdoing linked to the images.
Mountbatten-Windsor was arrested in mid February in Norfolk as part of an investigation into alleged misconduct in public office related to the possible sharing of confidential information with Epstein during the time he served as a United Kingdom trade envoy between 2001 and 2011.
Meanwhile, another photograph included in the document archive shows Lord Mandelson sitting across from Epstein on what appears to be the same wooden deck seen in the newly uncovered image. That picture had previously been linked to a “birthday book” created for Epstein’s 50th birthday in 2003.
Emails reviewed by the BBC suggest that Mandelson and Epstein’s assistant Lesley Groff once discussed the location where the photograph had been taken. In a 2013 email exchange, Groff suggested the image might have been taken on Epstein’s private island, but Mandelson responded that he believed it was taken in Martha’s Vineyard during his first meeting with Epstein.
The resurfacing of these images comes as law enforcement agencies continue to review allegations surrounding Mandelson’s past interactions with Epstein. The Metropolitan Police opened an investigation last month following claims that Mandelson may have shared market sensitive government information with Epstein while serving as a government minister.
Although Mandelson has not commented publicly in recent weeks regarding the latest document releases, sources indicate he maintains that he did not act illegally and was not motivated by financial gain.
Epstein died in a Manhattan prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges. His longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell is currently serving a 20 year prison sentence after being convicted of recruiting and trafficking teenage girls for Epstein.
