Epstein emails bring scandal to Europe’s elite, from Norway’s crown princess to Britain’s ‘prince of darkness’

London’s Metropolitan Police, which earlier said it was reviewing reports of “alleged misconduct in public office” to determine whether it met the criteria for opening a criminal investigation, announced late Tuesday that it had “opened an investigation into a 72-year-old man, a former government minister, for misconduct in public office.” As is usual, it was not identified by name who was the subject of the investigation.

Mandelson had already resigned as British ambassador to the United States in September after revelations about his friendship with Epstein. On Sunday, he also resigned from the ruling Labor Party, after the latest release of files suggested he had lobbied his own government on Epstein’s behalf while alerting it to key decisions to come.

“I am working to make changes,” Mandelson wrote to Epstein about a planned tax on bankers’ bonuses in December 2009, according to the released documents. “The Treasury is searching, but I am sure [the] case.”

Mandelson also appears to have leaked an internal economic report on assets the government thought it could sell. Mandelson forwarded it to Epstein with the added line: “Interesting note that was sent to the Prime Minister.” »

In 2010, when Mandelson was business secretary, he informed Epstein in advance that Prime Minister Gordon Brown was going to resign following his general election defeat, writing “which ultimately led to him leaving today…” according to an email exchange between the two.

Epstein served time in prison after being convicted in 2008 of soliciting a minor for prostitution, although the true extent of his crimes did not begin to emerge until 2015.

Mandelson said he was resigning to avoid “further embarrassment to the Labor Party” and wanted to “reiterate my apologies to the women and girls whose voices should have been heard long before now”.

In an interview published Monday by British newspaper The Times, he spoke of a “handful of ill-advised historical emails, which I deeply regret sending,” and compared Epstein to “a piece of shit you can’t get off your shoe.”

Prime Minister Keir Starmer, his former boss, said on Tuesday he was “dismayed by the information that emerged this weekend in the Epstein files”, his spokesperson told the press.

He said “the alleged transmission of emails regarding highly sensitive government matters was shameful, adding that he was not reassured that the full amount of information had already been revealed,” the spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, in Norway, the future queen, Crown Princess Mette-Marit, apologized after emails suggested that she – like Mandelson – was a much closer personal friend of Epstein than she had previously acknowledged.

Like the British royal family, Norway’s monarchs were thrown into turmoil after the emergence of emails sent from 2011 to 2013 by Epstein corresponding to an address listed as “HKH Kronprinsessen” – meaning “Her Royal Highness The Crown Princess”.

In an email from HKH Kronprinsessen from November 2012, Epstein is referred to as a “darling.” Another from the following January said: “Anyway, are you coming to see me soon??? I miss my crazy friend.”

The crown princess, married to Crown Prince Haakon, next in line to the throne, said in a statement that she took “responsibility for not having investigated Epstein’s background more thoroughly and for not realizing sooner what kind of person he was.” She said she “deeply” regretted her “poor judgment” and called it “simply embarrassing.”

She also said she had “deep sympathy and solidarity with the victims of the abuse committed by Jeffrey Epstein.”

The Royal House of Norway did not respond to requests for further comment.

Media attention only intensified on Tuesday with the start of the sexual assault trial of Marius Borg Høiby, 29, the crown princess’s son, who has pleaded not guilty to 38 charges, including four of rape.

The revelations prompted a rare public rebuke of the popular royals from the country’s political leader. Mette-Marit “showed poor judgment,” Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said on Monday.

Even for Mandelson, nicknamed “silver tongue” by then-President George W. Bush, the most recent revelations were surprising.

“Mandelson was the heart of government,” said Dan Neidle, a prominent tax lawyer who founded Tax Policy Associates, a British nonprofit aimed at improving public understanding of policy.

He was “leaking information to Epstein about the British and American government responses to the financial crisis,” Neidle told NBC News, referring to the latest set of documents released by the Justice Department, which he analyzed in detail. “This is incredibly serious.”

Mandelson rose to prominence in the 1990s as a key force behind then-Prime Minister Tony Blair’s “New Labour” movement.

His most recent return was as Starmer’s ambassador to Washington – but he only held the post a few months after a previous salvo of Epstein files showed the two had a much closer relationship than had previously been admitted. Mandelson called Epstein “my best friend” in a 2003 birthday book for Epstein.

The most recently released files also appear to show that Epstein paid $75,000 in three installments into accounts linked to Mandelson or his partner in 2003 and 2004.

The London Speaker Bureau, a keynote speakers organization that lists Mandelson as a speaker, did not immediately respond to requests for comment and additional information.

A spokesperson made this statement to the online newspaper The Independent: “The allegations, which I believe to be false, that he made financial payments to me 20 years ago, of which I have no record or recollection, must be investigated by me. »