Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor used taxpayers’ money for massages and excessive travel costs during his time as the UK’s trade envoy, retired civil servants have claimed.
A former civil servant who worked with Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor in the early 2000s told the BBC: “I thought it was wrong… I’d said we mustn’t pay it, but we ended up paying it anyway.” The retired civil servant said he “can’t say it would have stopped him, but we should have flagged that something was wrong.”
Mountbatten-Windsor’s civil service role from 2001-2011 was entirely unpaid apart from logged expenses.
A separate Whitehall official, who said Mountbatten-Windsor claimed for excessive flights, hotel rooms and charges for his entourage, told the BBC: “I couldn’t believe it… it was like it wasn’t real money, they weren’t spending any of their own money.”
Another former senior Whitehall Official told the BBC that he has “absolutely no doubt” that Mountbatten-Windsor’s approved expenses were authentic during this time after seeing similar expenses on overseas trips.
No evidence of fraudulent expenses has been released to the public.
Mountbatten-Windsor was arrested on 19 February for suspected misconduct during his time as trade envoy. After spending 11 hours of his 66th birthday in custody at the Aylsham Police Station, while police searched one of his residencies, Sandringham Estate in Norfolk, he was released under investigation.
According to PA, Downing Street declined to comment on the BBC investigation. The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “As with every kind of specific allegation in this matter, that is something for the police to look at, not for me to comment on or give a running commentary on a live police investigation.”
Mountbatten-Windsor was stripped of his Royal titles in October 2025 by King Charles, after long debate around his links to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Recently, a discussion over whether to remove him from the line of succession to the throne has arisen. Today, Prime Minister of Australia Anthony Albanese wrote a letter to PM Sir Keir Starmer, where he stated that his government “would agree to any proposal to remove him from the line of royal succession.”.
The former Prince continues to strongly deny any wrongdoing and the allegations against him.
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