New photo shows Andrew and Mandelson ‘weeks after meeting’ | Royal | News

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and Peter Mandelson met for the first time at a lunch in Buckingham Palace about the prevention of child cruelty in 1999, just weeks before they were photographed in bathrobes next to convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, it has been claimed. The disgraced former Duke of York was chairman of the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC)’s Full Stop campaign, while the politician was vice-chairman at the time.

The campaign ran from 1999 until 2009, raising over £250 million. At the time, the former prince gave an interview to Hello! Magazine for the initiative, in which he appeared with Nicole Kidman, saying: “As a father of two young children, I simply could not sit back and do nothing … hopefully, in 20 years’ time, everyone will be able to pat themselves on the back.”

A new report by the Sunday Times claimed the two men were first introduced to each other at a lunch at Andrew’s apartment in Buckingham Palace, where they had “plaice in a nice cream sauce” according to the initiative’s former director of fundraising, Giles Pegram.

He told the newspaper:” I have a strong recollection of that lunch, we ate plaice in a nice cream sauce.

“I arranged the meeting. My colleague and I went to Buckingham Palace, we sat with Peter Mandelson in the anteroom and then went up together to have lunch with the duke.”

“On the basis of body language and everything, they were not two people who knew each other coming together. They certainly didn’t greet each other as old friends, it was the same handshake that he gave me and my colleague.”

Weeks later, the two appeared in the infamous now photo of them in bathrobes alongside Epstein on Martha’s Vineyard, which was released alongside the millions of files published by the US in relation to the US financier.

It is thought to be the first time Mandelson met Epstein.

Meanwhile, a newly resurfaced photo of Andrew and Mandelson shows them in a Buckingham Palace boardroom, shortly after the Martha’s Vineyard snap was taken.

It is not known exactly when or where the Martha’s Vineyard photo was taken.

Since then, a number of details have emerged about the two men’s association with Epstein, resulting in both of them being arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office by the police.

They have both denied any wrongdoing, and being mentioned in the Epstein files does not suggest any wrongdoing.

Pegram told the newspaper: “Do I regret it? Yes, obviously I do. If I knew then what I know now, I wouldn’t have done it. If there was a scandal that was related to children, we wouldn’t have come within a mile of it.”

He said: “On a personal basis, as a director of the National Society of Prevention of Cruelty to Children for 30 years, I’m absolutely horrified [that] on one visit, he could be helping the NSPCC one moment and then going off with Jeffrey Epstein the next. I mean, that just sort of gives me horror, personally.

“If I’d known what I know now, he would never have been appointed chair. And there’d never [have] been a meeting with Mandelson. This is the benefit of hindsight. There’s nothing that I could have known at the time that would have caused me not to have him as chair and not to have Mandelson as a vice-chair.

“I devoted 30 years of my career to preventing cruelty to children, so first and foremost my concerns are with the victims of Jeffrey Epstein — it’s absolutely unforgivable and nothing in the past can make that right.”

The NSPCC said: “The appalling revelations, that have continued to come to light through the publication of the Epstein files, have exposed a world of power, privilege, and wealth where vulnerable women and girls were ruthlessly targeted, exploited, trafficked and sexually abused.

“Jeffrey Epstein was at the centre of this criminal web, but it remains essential that anyone else involved in the abuse of women and girls is also held to account and faces justice.

“Our thoughts are with all the victims in this terrible case, many of whom have been speaking out for years and are only now being fully heard. They deserve justice and support as they have been ignored and dismissed for far too long. Their voices must be at the centre of what happens next.”