{"id":2401350,"date":"2026-05-04T12:05:40","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T12:05:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2401350"},"modified":"2026-05-04T12:05:40","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T12:05:40","slug":"new-photo-shows-andrew-and-mandelson-weeks-after-meeting-royal-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/new-photo-shows-andrew-and-mandelson-weeks-after-meeting-royal-news\/","title":{"rendered":"New photo shows Andrew and Mandelson ‘weeks after meeting’ | Royal | News"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Andrew and Peter Mandelson in 1999 (Image: PA)<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

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Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor<\/a> and Peter Mandelson<\/a> 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)\u2019s Full Stop campaign, while the politician was vice-chairman at the time.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The campaign ran from 1999 until 2009, raising over \u00a3250 million. At the time, the former prince gave an interview to Hello! Magazine for the initiative, in which he appeared with Nicole Kidman, saying: \u201cAs a father of two young children, I simply could not sit back and do nothing \u2026 hopefully, in 20 years\u2019 time, everyone will be able to pat themselves on the back.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Read more:<\/strong> Princess Eugenie royal baby joy as Palace announces pregnancy <\/a><\/p>\n

Read more:<\/strong> Meghan Markle’s ‘strategic move’ to ‘steal spotlight’ from King exposed <\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Andrew,<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/p>\n

Andrew, Mandelson and Epstein (Image: US Department of Justice)<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

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\"Andrew<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/p>\n

Andrew and Mandelson in 2007 (Image: AP)<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

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A new report by the Sunday Times<\/a> claimed the two men were first introduced to each other at a lunch at Andrew\u2019s apartment in Buckingham Palace, where they had \u201cplaice in a nice cream sauce\u201d according to the initiative’s former director of fundraising, Giles Pegram.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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He told the newspaper:\u201d I have a strong recollection of that lunch, we ate plaice in a nice cream sauce.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cI 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.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cOn the basis of body language and everything, they were not two people who knew each other coming together. They certainly didn\u2019t greet each other as old friends, it was the same handshake that he gave me and my colleague.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Weeks later, the two appeared in the infamous now photo of them in bathrobes alongside Epstein on Martha\u2019s Vineyard, which was released alongside the millions of files published by the US in relation to the US financier.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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It is thought to be the first time Mandelson met Epstein.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Meanwhile, a newly resurfaced photo of Andrew and Mandelson shows them in a Buckingham Palace boardroom, shortly after the Martha\u2019s Vineyard snap was taken.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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It is not known exactly when or where the Martha\u2019s Vineyard photo was taken.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Since then, a number of details have emerged about the two men\u2019s association with Epstein, resulting in both of them being arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office by the police.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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They have both denied any wrongdoing, and being mentioned in the Epstein files does not suggest any wrongdoing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Pegram told the newspaper: \u201cDo I regret it? Yes, obviously I do. If I knew then what I know now, I wouldn\u2019t have done it. If there was a scandal that was related to children, we wouldn\u2019t have come within a mile of it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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He said: \u201cOn a personal basis, as a director of the National Society of Prevention of Cruelty to Children for 30 years, I\u2019m 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.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cIf I\u2019d known what I know now, he would never have been appointed chair. And there\u2019d never [have] been a meeting with Mandelson. This is the benefit of hindsight. There\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n