Royal family biographer names surprising new Epstein connection

Jeffrey Epstein's relationship with the British royal family may be much deeper than previously reported, according to one of the royal family's biographers.

Andrew Lownie, who has written two books about the royal family, including a biography of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor's relationship with Epstein, revealed during a new episode of the Daily Beast’s "The Royalist Podcast" that another member of the royal family also kept company with Epstein. Lownie said that Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, had dinner with Epstein in the mid-1990s and may have helped give him credibility he didn't deserve.

“... Epstein had targeted several royal families," Lownie said. "The scandals not just ... the British royal family, but, he saw him as someone who gave Epstein credibility, gave him access to various people, not least perhaps other members of the royal family. There [are] stories that perhaps other members of the royal family may have been involved with Epstein.”

Lownie added that Sophie's dinner with Epstein shows the "scandal may evolve beyond just Andrew.“

"... I think for Epstein, Andrew was very, very helpful,” Lownie said. “You know, the kudos of being able to have pictures of him sitting on the throne in Buckingham Palace or going up to Sandringham ... It was a useful sort of negotiating tool with other people. You know, ‘I can arrange a shooting weekend up in Sandringham.’ And so he was ... always leveraging everything.”