UK police assess new claims about former Prince Andrew, as Prince William, Kate speak out about Epstein files
Prince Andrew, Duke of York arrives for the Requiem Mass service for Katharine, Duchess of Kent at Westminster Cathedral on September 16, 2025, in London, England. (Photo by Jordan Pettitt – Pool/Getty Images)
(THAMES VALLEY, England) — Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly known as Prince Andrew, is facing new scrutiny over his communications with the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The police department in Thames Valley, England, confirmed Monday it is assessing new allegations that Mountbatten-Windsor, a brother of Britain’s King Charles III, shared with Epstein confidential reports from a 2010 tour of Southeast Asia he took as Britain’s then-envoy for international trade.
“We can confirm receipt of this report and are assessing the information in line with our established procedures,” a Thames Valley Police spokesperson told ABC News Monday.
A Buckingham Palace spokesperson said Monday the palace will support authorities as needed.
“The King has made clear, in words and through unprecedented actions, his profound concern at allegations which continue to come to light in respect of Mr Mountbatten-Windsor’s conduct,” the spokesperson said in a statement to ABC News. “While the specific claims in question are for Mr Mountbatten-Windsor to address, if we are approached by Thames Valley Police we stand ready to support them as you would expect.”
The spokesperson continued, “As was previously stated, Their Majesties’ thoughts and sympathies have been, and remain with, the victims of any and all forms of abuse.”
The new allegations against Andrew come shortly after the U.S. Department of Justice public released 3 million pages of documents related to Epstein, who died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial on charges of sex trafficking minor girls.
Mountbatten-Windsor’s name shows up in the documents in his communications with Epstein, including correspondence in 2010 after Epstein concluded a 13-month jail sentence and work release — the result of a 2008 plea bargain with federal prosecutors in Florida.
The documents also show the two men communicated beyond the time that Mountbatten-Windsor said publicly that he had cut ties with Epstein.
ABC News has reached out to a representative for Mountbatten-Windsor for comment about the documents.
The former prince has repeatedly denied wrongdoing with respect to Epstein.
Last year, Charles ordered that Mountbatten-Windsor, a son of the late Queen Elizabeth II, have his “style, titles and honours,” including his “prince” title, removed amid continued fallout from his relationship with Epstein.
ABC News confirmed that Mountbatten-Windsor has also moved out of his longtime royal residence, Royal Lodge, a 30-room mansion on the grounds of Windsor Estate, and will now live permanently on the king’s privately owned Sandringham Estate in Norfolk, England, over 100 miles away from his previous home.
As the fallout for Mountbatten-Windsor continues, his nephew and heir to the throne, Prince William, and William’s wife Kate, the Princess of Wales, spoke out publicly for the first time Monday about the latest release of Epstein-related documents.
Ahead of William’s arrival in Saudi Arabia for an official visit, a Kensington Palace spokesperson released a statement, saying, “I can confirm The Prince and Princess have been deeply concerned by the continuing revelations. Their thoughts remain focused on the victims.”
Buckingham Palace has so far not commented publicly on the latest Epstein documents.
Charles, as well as his wife Queen Camilla and younger brother Prince Edward, have each faced questions about the Epstein documents from onlookers at public engagements over the past week.
A North Korea Scud-B missile (R) is displayed at the Korea War Memorial Museum on July 4, 2017 in Seoul, South Korea. (Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)
(SEOUL and LONDON) — North Korea test-launched two short-range ballistic missiles on Tuesday afternoon, South Korean and Japanese officials said.
The missile launch took place just hours after Elbridge Colby, the U.S. under secretary of defense for policy, wrapped up his visit to South Korea early Tuesday morning and arrived in Japan.
Seoul and Pyongyang have been on edge over North Korea’s accusation that South Korea intruded its airspace with drones in January and last September.
The launches amounted to a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions and posed “a serious issue concerning the safety of the Japanese people,” the Japanese Ministry of Defense said in a statement.
“Japan has lodged a strong protest against North Korea and strongly condemned them,” the statement said in Japanese, which was translated by ABC News.
The missiles were fired from the Pyongyang area at about 4 p.m. and both traveled almost 350 kilometers, or about 217 miles, before splashing down into the Sea of Japan, Japanese and Korean officials said.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in its own statement that Seoul’s intelligence authorities tracked the launch and shared info with both Japan and the United States.
“Under a robust South Korea–U.S. combined defense posture, the South Korean military is closely monitoring various developments by North Korea and maintaining the capabilities and readiness to respond overwhelmingly to any provocation,” South Korea’s military said in a statement.
Japanese officials said the missiles were thought to have landed near the North Korean coast in the Sea of Japan, which is also known as the East Sea.
“The government has provided information to aircraft and ships sailing in the area, but at this time no reports of damage have been confirmed,” Japan said in a statement in Japanese, which was translated by ABC News.
King Charles III speaks on March 27, 2026 in Oxford, England. (Kate Green/Getty Images)
(LONDON) — King Charles III will address a joint meeting of Congress on April 28 as part of his upcoming state visit to the U.S., according to a joint statement issued by Congressional leaders on Tuesday.
The address, the statement said, “celebrates the 250th anniversary of American independence and the enduring special relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom.”
The statement was issued by House Speaker Mike Johnson, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
“This year, the United States will mark the 250th anniversary of its independence. As we celebrate this historic milestone and recommit ourselves to the principles upon which our nation was founded, we also recognize that the American experiment endures in no small part because of the British tradition from which it sprang,” the statement said.
“We believe an address to Congress will provide a unique opportunity to share your vision for the future of our special relationship and reaffirm our alliance at this pivotal time in history,” it added.
Johnson posted about the invitation on X, noting the U.S. and U.K. “share one of the most consequential partnerships in history.”
President Donald Trump said that the state visit will take place from April 27 until April 30.
Preparations for the visit come at a tense moment between the Trump administration and NATO, of which Britain is a member, over the reluctance of allies in the intergovernmental military alliance to join the ongoing U.S.-Israeli war in Iran. On Wednesday, Trump said in an interview that he is considering pulling the U.S. out of NATO.
In a press conference on Wednesday, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the U.K. is fully committed to NATO and that he isn’t going to change his position on the war.
“I have to act in our national interests,” Starmer told reporters. “This is not our war,” he continued, noting “a good deal of pressure on me to change my position in relation to joining the war. I’m not going to change my position on the war.”
In 2023, Congress passed legislation requiring any presidential decision to leave NATO to have two-thirds approval in the Senate or be authorized through an act of Congress.
President Donald Trump gestures as he speaks during a Cabinet meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House, March 26, 2026 in Washington. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — The Israel Defense Forces need “a few more weeks” to fully degrade Iranian military capabilities, such as missile-launchers, a senior Israeli security official told ABC News.
The Israeli security official poured cold water on the idea that a substantive deal between the United States and Iran could be reached within President Donald Trump’s earlier deadline of this weekend. Trump said Thursday that he was postponing plans to target Iran’s power plants until April 6 citing ongoing talks.
The Iranians “are very well-trained negotiators,” the security official said. “They won’t agree in a few days to end all the actions.”
The senior Israeli security official, who spoke to ABC News on the condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak to the media, said he was worried that U.S.-Iran talks could lead to a deal which does not extract significant enough concessions from the Iranians.
The Israeli security official said that if he were advising U.S. negotiators he would ask “to see actions [from the Iranians] that can be measured.”
“For example, giving [up] all the 400 kilograms of enriched uranium,” he added.
Iran has previously denied U.S. and Israeli accusations that it was enriching uranium to near weapons-grade level, with an ultimate aim of producing nuclear weapons.
The Israeli official spoke to ABC News on Tuesday, the day after Trump posted on his social media platform that there had been “very good and productive conversations” between the U.S. and Iran “regarding a complete and total resolution of our hostilities in the Middle East.”
Iranian officials have denied — at least publicly — that negotiations with the U.S. are taking place. On Wednesday, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Esmaeil Baqaei, told Indian TV that there were “no talks or negotiations” between Iran and the United States.
“No one can trust U.S. diplomacy,” Baqaei added.
However, on Thursday a Reuters report quoted an Iranian official as saying that a U.S. proposal for ending the war was “one-sided and unfair.”
The White House said in a statement that the U.S. military had been “decimating Iran’s military capabilities with overwhelming firepower, skill, lethality, and force.”
“The United States is winning very decisively and way ahead of schedule,” a White House official said.
“We have taken major strides towards completing our military objectives, to the point that we are close to completing them,” the White House added.
On Thursday, Trump announced a further pause in plans to hit Iran’s power plants, again citing talks that he said were “going very well.”
An Israeli military official who was authorized to speak with journalists told reporters during a briefing Wednesday that the Israeli Air Force had conducted 8,500 strikes in Iran since the end of February and had destroyed some 400 Iranian ballistic missiles and 335 missile-launchers, which equated, he said, to about 70% of Iran’s overall arsenal of missile-launchers.
However, when the military official was pressed by reporters on the extent to which the IDF’s military operations and goals were outstanding in the war, he declined to give details, stressing that the U.S. and Israeli militaries were “well-coordinated” and working “shoulder-to-shoulder.”
“We are achieving more and more of our objectives,” said the military official , who is part of the IDF division that coordinates operations deep inside enemy territory.
“War is not a one bang and it’s over. It’s an ongoing machine,” he added.
The senior Israeli security official who spoke anonymously to ABC News said the speaker of Iran’s Parliament, Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, was leading the talks with the Trump administration.
Ghalibaf’s apparent leading role in negotiations, which has not been confirmed by the U.S. or Iran, was first reported by Axios.
On Monday, Trump refused to confirm which senior Iranian official the U.S. was in talks with, telling reporters, “I don’t want him to be killed” and referring to the Iranian lead negotiator as “a top person.”
The senior Israeli security official described Ghalibaf, who is a former commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard’s Air Force, as “an extremist” and “not Mother Teresa” and told ABC News that Israel would refrain from attempting to kill Ghalibaf while the talks continue.
“He has this kind of insurance [policy] as long as he talks,” the official said, adding, “no one is secure in Iran.”
Asked by a reporter if the IDF was holding off on any attempts to kill Ghalibaf, the military official did not comment directly about Ghalibaf but stressed that, in terms of its list of targets, the IDF would accept and follow any political decisions.
Earlier this week, the Trump administration sent a 15-point plan to Iran end the war, via Pakistan, which has emerged as a key mediator, two sources familiar with the plan told ABC News Tuesday.
Those sources said the plan addresses Iran’s ballistic missile and nuclear programs as well as maritime routes but would not provide any other details including which Iranian officials the proposal was sent to. It is also unclear whether Israel has signed onto the proposal.
While diplomatic efforts continue, the Pentagon is preparing to deploy as many as 5,000 additional troops to the Middle East, with some of those forces already in transit.
The troops are a mix of U.S. Army paratroopers and Marines.
However, exactly when the troops will arrive or where they will land is not clear.
Trump has indicated that the negotiations between U.S. and Iranian officials have, in part, been focused on Iran’s control over the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran’s stranglehold over that narrow waterway, through which around a fifth of the world’s oil and gas normally passes, has caused a spike in energy prices and volatility in trading on financial markets.
The senior Israeli security official who spoke anonymously with ABC News said Israel was working on the assumption that Iran had laid naval mines in the Strait of Hormuz.
The Israeli official stressed that locating naval mines and disarming them is a “complicated” task.
“If one big oil tanker were exploded by a few naval mines, it would play havoc with markets, as well as the insurance for shipping companies, and would send the price of oil skyrocketing,” the Israeli official said.
“If Iran says they have mined the Strait of Hormuz then the basic assumption we must have as commanders … is that they have mined the Strait of Hormuz,” said the Israeli military official who briefed reporters.
In possible talks Israel wants the U.S. to press Iran to give up what remains of its enriched uranium and rein in its proxies in the region, the senior Israeli security official stressed.
That Israeli official suggested that it would not be possible to seize Iran’s enriched uranium by military force.
The two U.S. Marine Expeditionary Units which are being deployed to the Middle East, “don’t have the engineering tools” to conduct an operation to “pull out” Iran’s remaining enriched uranium from underground sites, he said.
Asked about this issue on the briefing with reporters, the military official declined to comment.
The Pentagon declined to comment about the senior Israeli official’s assessment of remaining objectives in the war and the U.S. military’s capabilities.
The White House said the war on Iran was “a conditions-based operation” and said it would conclude when the president “determines that our objectives are met.”
