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Prince Andrew Transferred 30,000 Emails From UK Trade Envoy Role to Buckingham Palace Years Ago
Court documents show an archive of emails about Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor's financial dealings was delivered to the Lord Chamberlain six years before his arrest. Buckingham Palace and government officials have declined detailed comment while police inquiries continue.
May 30, 6:51 AM·2m read2 sources
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Buckingham Palace was handed an archive of 30,000 emails in May 2020 relating to Prince Andrew’s work as UK trade envoy, according to a High Court judgment from April 2021. A later ruling in June 2022 cited an email dated 10 July 2020 that confirmed delivery of the material to the Lord Chamberlain, then Lord Peel.
The emails date from Prince Andrew’s period as trade envoy up to June 2013. The archive originated from the email account of Jonathan Rowland following a business dispute with a colleague. Retail entrepreneur Kevin Stanford obtained copies of the emails and offered them to authorities in Monaco and Luxembourg before providing them to the Lord Chamberlain and a journalist, court documents show.
Jonathan Rowland confirmed that published messages about Icelandic banks came from his account and formed part of legal proceedings. Court documents indicate the emails were part of the archive later sent to the Palace. The material included an instance in which Prince Andrew requested a confidential Treasury briefing on Iceland’s banking industry in 2010 and forwarded it to Jonathan Rowland before Rowland made a financial move.
David Rowland, Jonathan’s father, had taken over the Luxembourg arm of the failed Icelandic bank Kaupthing, which became Banque Havilland. The bank later faced sanctions from UK and EU regulators.
No publicly released evidence has documented that the Palace failed to act on the material once received. Thames Valley Police issued a fresh appeal for information after Prince Andrew was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office earlier in 2026.
A government spokesperson said the government is fully cooperating with Thames Valley Police and last week published documents about the creation of the trade envoy role and Prince Andrew’s appointment in 2001. Thames Valley Police said they are aware of allegations in the public domain and encourage anyone with relevant information to get in touch.
