Prince Andrew hosted Epstein, Maxwell and Weinstein at Royal Lodge

Prince Andrew hosted Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell and Harvey Weinstein at Royal Lodge, the publicly-owned home where he effectively lives rent-free.

The trio visited the Windsor mansion as part of his daughter Beatrice’s masked ball 18th birthday celebrations in 2006, two months after a US arrest warrant had been issued for Epstein for the sexual assault of a minor.

It had previously been reported that Epstein, Maxwell and Weinstein visited Windsor Castle for the event, but not that they had been hosted at Andrew’s private home.

Andrew, who is facing increased scrutiny over his living arrangements in light of his relationship with Epstein, has not responded to a request for comment.

It is understood that Epstein, Maxwell and Weinstein visited Royal Lodge ahead of the main party, which took place in the state rooms of Windsor Castle and involved a champagne reception and banquet.

The BBC has matched the trees and patio wall in a previously published image of the trio to other pictures of Royal Lodge.

Epstein was arrested by police in Florida eight days after the event.

Asked by BBC Newsnight in 2019 why he invited Epstein to his daughter’s 18th birthday two months after the US arrest warrant was issued, Andrew said: “Certainly I wasn’t aware when the invitation was issued what was going on in the United States and I wasn’t aware until the media picked up on it because he never said anything about it.”

Andrew relinquished his titles earlier this month amid renewed scrutiny of his links with Epstein following the posthumous publication of Virginia Giuffre’s memoir.

In the memoir, Ms Giuffre said she had sex with the prince on three separate occasions, including once with Epstein and “eight other young girls”.

Andrew, who reached a financial settlement with Ms Giuffre in 2022, has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. In 2019, he told BBC Newsnight he did not remember meeting Ms Giuffre “at all” and that they “never had any sort of sexual contact”.

Fresh questions have also been asked about how he is able to fund his lifestyle despite not being a working royal.

The revelation that he has only ever paid a token annual rent on his Windsor mansion, Royal Lodge, has intensified the questions over his living arrangements – even though he made large payments up front, including for renovations.

Buckingham Palace has not commented on whether Prince Andrew might move out of his home – or where he might go.

But BBC News understands that two other properties in the grounds of Windsor Castle, Adelaide Cottage and Frogmore Cottage, were options suggested to both Prince Andrew and his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson some months ago.

Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell seemed to be regular guests at royal residences in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

An image of the pair at Balmoral, the royals’ private Highland estate, was released by prosecutors during Maxwell’s sex trafficking trial.

It is thought to have been taken in 1999, when Andrew reportedly invited the couple to stay at the Scottish castle

In 2000, Epstein was a guest at Windsor Castle and the prince hosted a birthday event for Maxwell at Sandringham, the monarch’s private country retreat in Norfolk.

He told BBC Newsnight the latter event was “a straightforward shooting weekend”.

Epstein died by suicide in a New York jail cell in August 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.

In 2008, he reached a plea deal with prosecutors after the parents of a 14-year-old girl told police in Florida that Epstein had molested their daughter at his Palm Beach home.

Maxwell is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence in the US for recruiting and trafficking four teenage girls for sexual abuse by Epstein, her then boyfriend.

Weinstein has been convicted of sexual assault by courts in New York and Los Angeles, but has secured a retrial on some of his convictions.