A newly released email chain from the Jeffrey Epstein files is casting attention on a mystery correspondent who appears to be writing from one of the royal family's most famous retreats. In August 2001, a man who signs his messages as "A" and calls himself "The Invisible Man" emailed Ghislaine Maxwell saying he was "up here at Balmoral Summer Camp for the Royal Family."
From there, the Guardian reports he asks if she had "found me some new inappropriate friends," and suggests he could use a late-August trip "somewhere hot and sunny with some fun people" before returning to work in the fall. "Let me know when you are coming over," writes "A." Maxwell responds that she had managed to find only "appropriate friends," which prompts "A" to reply, "Distraught!" He adds that he had lost his valet, left the "RN," and that his life was "in turmoil" without someone to look after him.
The emails do not name the sender, but Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor—then known as Prince Andrew—left the Royal Navy in 2001. The Guardian adds "there is no suggestion that the emails indicate criminal wrongdoing." Fox News separately reports that the royal family's residences feature in some of the photos that have been newly released by the Department of Justice. In one, Andrew, Epstein, and Maxwell appear to be hunting at Balmoral Castle. In another, Andrew reclines across the laps of women whose faces have been redacted in a room at Sandringham House, where the royal family for decades spent Christmas and New Year's.
Royal commentator Amanda Matta offered her take to Fox News: "What stands out most to me is the context of these images, not just their content. Seeing Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell appear in settings directly tied to royal life underscores how close Andrew allowed them to come to the monarchy's central spaces. Sandringham is one of the family's most intimate hideaways ... access ... goes well beyond casual association."