Palace Received 30,000 Email Archive on Andrew Emails — Email
Buckingham Palace was handed an archive of 30,000 email messages in 2020 that court documents say could have shown Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor sharing confidential government information while he served as a trade envoy. The material was given to the Lord Chamberlain, placing senior Royal Household officials on notice years before current police scrutiny of Mountbatten-Windsor.
Lord Chamberlain archive
A High Court judgment in April 2021 said a copy of the archive had been provided for the Lord Chamberlain in May 2020. A later High Court ruling in June 2022 referred to an email dated 10 July 2020 saying the emails had been delivered to Buckingham Palace.
The archive was taken from a personal business contact of the former prince and included material about his financial dealings. The contents were not fully known, but the files ran up to June 2013.
Mountbatten-Windsor emails
The disclosure lands beside earlier emails published this year showing Mountbatten-Windsor requested a confidential briefing from Treasury officials in 2010 and passed it to Jonathan Rowland. In that message, he wrote, “before you make your move,” and the briefing dealt with problems in Iceland's banking industry.
Jonathan Rowland previously said the published messages about Icelandic banks had been taken from his account and were part of legal proceedings. The emails also relate to Mountbatten-Windsor's financial dealings with the Rowlands and Banque Havilland, which later faced sanctions from regulators in the UK and the EU.
Police inquiry response
Mountbatten-Windsor stepped down as a working royal after his Newsnight interview in November 2019. He was arrested earlier this year on suspicion of misconduct in public office, and Thames Valley Police issued a fresh appeal last week for people to come forward with information.
Buckingham Palace responded: “Since there is an ongoing police enquiry concerning Mr Mountbatten-Windsor, it is not possible to provide any comment on these matters.” The Palace now sits with a 2020 email archive, a later police inquiry, and court rulings showing the documents reached senior Royal Household hands before the current scrutiny began.
