Sex toys and shotguns: What happened when Andrew invited Epstein to Sandringham |
“Am I right in thinking you threw a birthday party for Epstein’s girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell at Sandringham?” journalist Emily Maitlis asked during her BBC Newsnight interview with Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.
“No, it was a shooting weekend,” he replied curtly. “A shooting weekend … just a straightforward shooting weekend.”
Prince Andrew – now Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor – lies across several women at Sandringham in a newly released photograph.Credit: US Department of Justice
Straightforward. The word lingered uncomfortably. Shocked household staff had a different account entirely.
For that December 2000 weekend, which marked Maxwell’s 39th birthday, defied conventional description.
As I disclosed in my latest book, The Windsor Legacy, staff encountered shocking discoveries in the bathrooms. Gift baskets. Not filled with luxury soaps or guest amenities, as they were when Prince Charles hosted a shooting weekend.
Instead, they contained sex drugs, toys and lubricant. Poppers – amyl nitrite, aphrodisiac substances – and exotic condoms, too. Not concealed discreetly. They were distributed to the guest rooms, there on arrival, like party bags. Clearly somebody – presumably the host – had sanctioned the risque handout.
Andrew walks with then Prince Charles and other members of the royal family to attend a Christmas service at St Mary’s church on the grounds of Sandringham Estate in 2011.Credit: AP
In an instant, he had turned Queen Elizabeth’s private Norfolk estate – where she would be spending Christmas weeks later – into his royal version of Hugh Hefner’s Playboy mansion.
Insiders said the bathroom baskets – that were all used when the poor royal maids had to clear up – exposed the weekend’s authentic character........