New revelations from Epstein files take a toll across Europe

GENEVA — The fallout from the Jeffrey Epstein saga is rippling through Europe.

Politicians, diplomats, officials and royals have seen reputations tarnished, investigations launched and jobs lost after a trove of more than 3 million pages of Epstein-related documents released by the U.S. Justice Department revealed their ties to the American financier and convicted sex offender who died behind bars in 2019.

Apart from the former Prince Andrew, none of them face claims of sexual wrongdoing. They have been toppled for maintaining friendly relationships with Epstein after he became a convicted sex offender.

Some experts note the reckoning in Europe's parliamentary democracies has been swifter and more severe — for now — than in the United States, where Epstein built his empire and hobnobbed with many American elites.

Here's a look at some of those in the Old World caught up in the new furor.

U.K. royal family

The former Prince Andrew, one of King Charles III's two brothers, is one of the most prominent names linked to the Epstein underworld involving the recruitment of underage girls for sex.

The recent document dump exposed the depth of ties between Mountbatten-Windsor and Epstein, revealing more unsavory details that have jolted the royal family, including an allegation that the former prince sent trade reports to Epstein in 2010.

Mountbatten-Windsor has been forced to move out of the royal estate that he occupied for more than two decades. Buckingham Palace says that the king is ready to support police in the event of an inquiry into whether Mountbatten-Windsor gave confidential information to Epstein.

British politics

The U.K. government has been shaken by new revelations about Peter Mandelson, a longtime Labour party stalwart who Prime Minister Keir Starmer brought out of the political wilderness as U.K. ambassador in Washington.

Mandelson was stripped of that plum post in September, after Epstein emails showed that they had had closer ties than the ambassador had initially acknowledged.

Mandelson is now facing a criminal investigation, after the new files suggested that he may have shared market-sensitive information with Epstein a decade and a half ago.

Norway's crown princess

The new documents showed, among other things, that Norwegian Crown Princess Mette-Marit, the 52-year-old wife of Crown Prince Haakon, borrowed an Epstein-owned property in Palm Beach, Florida, for several days in 2013.

And in an email exchange between Epstein and Mette-Marit in 2012, he noted how he was in Paris ''on my wife hunt,'' but ''i prefer Scandinavians.''

She replied that the French capital was ''good for adultery,'' but ''Scandis'' were ''better wife material.''

Norway ex-prime minister

On Wednesday, the Council of Europe said that it was honoring a request from Norwegian authorities to waive the immunity from legal processes that its former secretary-general and ex-Prime Minister Thorbjørn Jagland, had enjoyed.

The council, a human rights body based in Strasbourg, France, said that such immunity aims ''to safeguard the independent exercise of official functions,'' and wasn't intended for ''personal benefit.''

Based on revelations in the Epstein files, Norwegian authorities opened an investigation into ''aggravated corruption'' involving Jagland, who is also a former chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee.

Emails indicate that Jagland made plans to visit Epstein's island with his family in 2014.

Mona Juul, Norway's ex-ambassador to Jordan, who was involved in Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts in the 1990s, resigned over the weekend, after reports said that Epstein left $10 million to Juul's children in a will drawn up shortly before he died.

Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said that a ministry investigation into her knowledge of and contact with Epstein will continue, and Juul will continue discussions with Norwegian officials to clarify the situation.

French ex-culture minister

Jack Lang, 86, stepped down as head of the Arab World Institute in Paris over alleged past financial links to Epstein that prompted a tax investigation.

Lang was summoned to appear Sunday at the French Foreign Ministry, which oversees the institute, but submitted his resignation.

Slovakia ex-foreign minister

Prime Minister Robert Fico's national security adviser, Miroslav Lajčák, resigned over past communications with Epstein — including text messages in which they discussed ''gorgeous'' girls.

''When I'm reading the messages today, I feel like an idiot,'' Lajčák told Slovak public radio.

Lajčák, a former foreign minister and former president of the U.N. General Assembly, has denied any wrongdoing. He said that he considered Epstein a valuable contact who was accepted by the rich and powerful in the U.S.