Queen Elizabeth pushed for Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor to get prominent trade role, files reveal

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor preferred to go to “sophisticated countries” and had a preference for ballet rather than theatre on overseas visits, his aide said, according to newly released documents related to his appointment as a UK trade envoy.

However, he “should not be offered private golfing functions abroad”, the government was told. This was described as a “private activity” and “if he took his clubs with him he would not play in any public sense”.

The Queen was also “very keen” for him to take on a “prominent role in the promotion of national interests”, the papers show.

A tranche of files related to his appointment as a trade envoy have been published, after ministers agreed in February to release documents related to his appointment to the post, which gave him access to senior government and business contacts around the world.

The former Duke of York faces accusations of sharing sensitive information with the disgraced paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein while acting as a special representative for trade and investment between 2001 and 2011.

A ministerial statement on the publication of the files is also expected on Thursday afternoon.

Andrew was arrested in February on suspicion of misconduct in public office and later released under investigation.

Ministers say they have worked with Thames Valley Police to ensure that any material released does not prejudice the police investigation,.

Andrew became the UK’s special representative for international trade and investment in 2001 but stepped down 10 years later amid the furore over his friendship with Epstein.

Although he was not paid, he had faced criticisms were made about the thousands of pounds spent each year on his expenses and travel costs.

He quit the role came the same year he was pictured with his arm around Virginia Giuffre, who said she was trafficked to the former duke at the home of convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell.

Ms Giuffre claimed she had sex with the former prince three times – at Maxwell’s home in London, at Epstein’s New York townhouse and on the disgraced financier’s Caribbean island, Little St James.

Andrew paid Ms Giuffre millions of pounds to settle a civil suit in the US in 2022, a woman he has claimed never to have met.

The former prince has vehemently denied any wrongdoing.

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