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Ministers have found no evidence that a formal due diligence or vetting process was undertaken before Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s appointment as a special representative for UK trade and investment, trade minister Chris Bryant has told MPs.
Bryant made the statement on Thursday alongside the release of the latest set of documents about the appointment of the then Prince Andrew to the role in 2001. The documents are being released as a result of a “humble address” motion requiring ministers to publish all available documents on the subject.
There has been considerable controversy over how King Charles’s younger brother came to be in the role given subsequent revelations about the depth of his friendship with the late American sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Andrew — then Duke of York — was appointed to the role as successor to the Duke of Kent, cousin of the late Queen Elizabeth II.
In a written statement, Bryant told ministers that in February 2000 Sir David Wright, then a senior official, had put forward a proposal saying the Duke of Kent intended to give up the trade role.
Bryant said of Wright’s proposal: “It was Her late Majesty’s wish that the Duke of York should succeed him. He set out a proposed role encompassing two or three trade promotion visits overseas per year, visits to UK regions and receiving prominent overseas trade visitors in the UK.”
The minister added that the late Robin Cook, then foreign secretary, had agreed in January 2000 that “greater use” should be made of the Duke of York.
“We have found no evidence that a formal due diligence or vetting process was undertaken,” Bryant wrote. “There is also no evidence that this was considered. This is understandable since this new appointment was a continuation of the Royal Family’s involvement in trade and investment promotion work following the Duke of Kent’s decision to relinquish his duties as Vice-Chairman of the Overseas Trade Board.”
Mountbatten-Windsor was arrested in February on suspicion of misconduct in public office following revelations in the US Justice Department’s Epstein files about his conduct while trade representative.
Mountbatten-Windsor has consistently denied any wrongdoing.
