Harry’s Most Embarrassing Incident Resurfaces in Epstein Files — and Meghan is Named Too
After Andrew and Fergie, Harry and Meghan are now named in the Epstein files released by the US Department of Justice.
The release of the Epstein files has intensified the scrutiny around Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, thrusting the royal family back into crisis mode. As the monarchy grapples with one of its biggest scandals, two unexpected royals across the pond also appear in the said documents. In the December tranche, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are mentioned, though not in connection with Epstein's horrific crimes. Instead, the references mention a prank call in which Harry was allegedly duped by Russian pranksters posing as climate activist Greta Thunberg.
Released by the US Department of Justice on December 23, the email showed two individuals discussing an article about the prank calls. It was dated on March 11, 2020, two days after Harry and Markle had made their final appearance as working royals at the Commonwealth Day Service. The subject line mentioned a Yahoo Lifestyle article, "Prince Harry comments on Prince Andrew's friendship with Jeffrey Epstein in Prank." The sender writes, "This article is estimated to have over $4million in publicity value. Insane." It is unclear if the disgraced financier was involved in the conversation, as the email addresses were redacted.
Another email exchange between the same people mentioned how Mountbatten-Windsor and Markle were also named in the article. The recipient replies, "Has any other article come close to that? An estimated 231,33,672 readers, and that is just from one stupid article." The sender responds, "Nothing that I recall even comes close. For context, a really important WSJ or Times articles average about $250-500k." They noted, "This had Prince Andrew, Prince Harry, and Megan Markel (sic) in the same story."
For those unversed, between December 2019 and January 2020, the Duke of Sussex was the victim of prank calls by notorious Russian pranksters Vladimir Kuznetsov and Alexey Stolyarov, who posed as Thunberg and her father, Svante. During one of the calls, when asked about his disgraced uncle and his friendship with Epstein, the Prince reportedly responded, "I have very little to say on that. But whatever he has done or hasn't done is completely separate from me and my wife. We operate in a way of inclusivity, and we are focusing on community. And so we are completely separate from the majority of my family."
In the aftermath of the emails this month, royal expert Duncan Larcombe has argued that the royal family is going through their biggest 'crisis' since the death of Princess Diana. Speaking of Harry and Markle's involvement in the files, he told Radar Online, "Meghan will be aware of how upset Harry is by what's happened, and that it's a difficult time for the royal family. I'm sure she's telling him, 'Keep your head down, don't get involved, the royal family is in a crisis, don't drag us into this.'" The expert opined that the Duchess of Sussex is bound to be worried about how this affects her brand, especially after her Netflix series was cancelled after two seasons.
