After Andrew, Another Royal Family Member Gets Entangled in Jeffrey Epstein Scandal
After the very public downfall of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, now Sweden’s royal household finds itself answering difficult questions of its own. The Swedish Royal Court has confirmed that Princess Sofia met disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein several times in 2005, long before she joined the royal family. The acknowledgement, which was first reported in the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter, has once again renewed attention to the late financier’s reach across European high society and has prompted Stockholm to clarify the limited nature of those encounters.
A spokesperson for the Royal Court told the newspaper that Sofia was “introduced to the person in question on a few occasions around 2005.” They also stressed that "the princess has not had any contact with the person in question for 20 years,” a line intended to underline that the meetings took place well before her marriage to Prince Carl Philip and her entry into official royal life. Correspondence reviewed by Dagens Nyheter indicated that Epstein’s interest in the Princess began after Swedish businesswoman Barbro Ehnbom emailed him in late 2005 with a photograph of the then-model.
Records show that the disgraced financier replied with an invitation to his private island in the Caribbean. “I’m in the Caribbean. Does she want to come for a couple of days? I’ll send a ticket,” he wrote, as per the newspaper. The Royal Court has made it clear that the Princess had declined any such offer and never travelled to the island. The renewed focus has also resurfaced discussion of Sofia’s early career, which was already well known in Sweden. Before meeting Prince Philip, she appeared on the reality television series Paradise Hotel and also worked as a model. Later, she relocated to New York, where she trained as a certified yoga instructor.
In 2009, she met the Prince through mutual friends, and the relationship became public the following year. While the couple drew significant backlash, largely due to Sofia’s career and its contrast with traditional expectations of a royal partner, they eventually got married in 2015. Sofia’s recent Epstein link comes at a time when royal households across Europe remain sensitive to reputational issues, particularly due to the fallout surrounding Mountbatten-Windsor in Britain. His loss of titles and dukedom, along with ongoing questions over his residence at Royal Lodge, has placed sustained pressure on the British monarchy.
Against the wider backdrop, the Swedish royal family appeared to keep its public focus fixed on official duties. As the annual Nobel Prize events began in Stockholm on December 10, King Carl XVI Gustaf, Queen Silvia, Crown Princess Victoria, Prince Daniel, Prince Carl Philip, and Princess Madeleine attended the ceremony in a visible show of unity. Princess Sofia, however, was absent, with the Palace confirming that she remains at home to care for her daughter, Princess Ines, who was born earlier this year. "Princess Sofia will not participate in the Nobel festivities. She will take care of Princess Ines, who is still small," the Palace confirmed to Swedish publication Svensk Dam.