LONDON (AP) — King Charles III is ready to “support’’ UK police examining claims that the former Prince Andrew gave confidential information to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Buckingham Palace said on Monday.
The statement came after Thames Valley Police said Monday that they were“assessing” reports that the former prince, now known as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, sent trade reports to Epstein in 2010. The department, which serves an area west of London that includes Mountbatten-Windsor’s former home, previously said it was evaluating allegations that Epstein flew a young woman to Britain to have sex with Andrew, also in 2010.
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Britain's Prince William and Kate, Princess of Wales meet Archbishop of Canterbury Dame Sarah Mullally at Lambeth Palace, London, Thursday Feb. 5, 2026. (Aaron Chown/Pool Photo via AP)
A document that was included in the U.S. Department of Justice release of the Jeffrey Epstein files, photographed Monday, Feb. 9, 2026, shows an email to Epstein. (AP Photo/Jon Elswick)
A document that was included in the U.S. Department of Justice release of the Jeffrey Epstein files, photographed Monday, Feb. 9, 2026, shows an email to Epstein. (AP Photo/Jon Elswick)
FILE - Britain's Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly known as Prince Andrew, looks round as he leaves after attending the Easter Matins Service at St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, England, April 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, File)
“The King has made clear, in words and through unprecedented actions, his profound concern at allegations which continue to come to light in respect of Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor’s conduct,’’ the palace said in a statement. “While the specific claims in question are for Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor to address, if we are approached by Thames Valley Police we stand ready to support them as you would expect.’’
The statement is just the latest effort by the palace to distance the royal family from Mountbatten-Windsor as the U.S. Justice Department’s release of more than 3 million pages of documents from its investigation into Epstein reveal more embarrassing details about the relationship between the two men. Earlier in the day, Prince William and Princess Catherine released their own statement saying they have been “deeply concerned” by recent revelations.
The palace also reiterated Charles and Queen Camilla’s concern for the victims of Epstein’s abuse.
“As was previously stated, Their Majesties’ thoughts and sympathies have been, and remain with, the victims of any and all forms of abuse,’’ the palace said.
The jeopardy faced by the royal family could be seen Monday when Charles visited Lancashire, in northwest England. While most of the crowd clapped, cheered and waved flags, one person shouted, “How long have you known about Andrew?”
Concerns about Mountbatten-Windsor’s links to Epstein have dogged the royal family for more than a decade.
The late Queen Elizabeth II forced her second son to give up royal duties and end his charitable work in 2019 after he tried to explain away his friendship with Epstein during a catastrophic interview with the BBC. After more details about the relationship emerged in a book published last year, Charles stripped him of the right to be called a prince and ordered him to move out of a royal residence close to Windsor Castle.
But the Justice Department documents have brought new attention to Mountbatten-Windsor as reporters home in on dozens of email exchanges between Epstein and the former prince, many of which took place after the financier was convicted of soliciting a minor for prostitution in 2008.
Correspondence unearthed in recent days appear to show that Mountbatten-Windsor sent Epstein copies of his reports from a 2010 tour of Southeast Asia, which he undertook as Britain’s envoy for international trade. An earlier email appears to show Andrew sharing his itinerary for the two-week trip to Hanoi, Saigon, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Hong Kong with Epstein.
“We can confirm receipt of this report and are assessing the information in line with our established procedures,” Thames Valley police said in a statement released on Monday.
Adding to the storm, a U.S.-based attorney said on Feb. 1 that he represented a woman who alleges Epstein flew her to Britain to have sex with Mountbatten-Windsor. The encounter took place at Royal Lodge, the former prince’s longtime home in Windsor, the attorney said in an interview with the BBC.
Police previously said they were assessing this report.
The king last week forced Mountbatten-Windsor to move out of Royal Lodge months ahead of schedule. Anger over Mountbatten-Windsor’s living arrangements had grown amid concern that he was still reaping rewards from his status as a royal even though he is no longer a working member of the royal family.
Mountbatten-Windsor is now living on the king’s Sandringham estate in eastern England. He will live temporarily at Wood Farm Cottage while his permanent home on the estate undergoes repairs. Unlike Royal Lodge, which is owned by the crown and managed for the benefit of taxpayers, Sandringham is owned privately by the king.
Thames Valley Police began its latest inquiry after Graham Smith, chief executive of the anti-monarchy group Republic, reported Mountbatten-Windsor for suspected abuse of public office and violations of Britain’s Official Secrets Act.
Smith, whose group seeks to replace the king with an elected head of state, compared Mountbatten-Windsor’s correspondence with Epstein to earlier revelations about Peter Mandelson, Britain’s former ambassador to the U.S., who is already the subject of a police investigation into whether he shared sensitive information with Epstein. Those communications were also revealed in the Justice Department documents.
“I cannot see any significant difference between these allegations and those against Peter Mandelson,” Smith said on social media.
Britain's Prince William and Kate, Princess of Wales meet Archbishop of Canterbury Dame Sarah Mullally at Lambeth Palace, London, Thursday Feb. 5, 2026. (Aaron Chown/Pool Photo via AP)
A document that was included in the U.S. Department of Justice release of the Jeffrey Epstein files, photographed Monday, Feb. 9, 2026, shows an email to Epstein. (AP Photo/Jon Elswick)
A document that was included in the U.S. Department of Justice release of the Jeffrey Epstein files, photographed Monday, Feb. 9, 2026, shows an email to Epstein. (AP Photo/Jon Elswick)
FILE - Britain's Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly known as Prince Andrew, looks round as he leaves after attending the Easter Matins Service at St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, England, April 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, File)
NEW YORK (AP) — In its debut film, Skydance Productions released a special effects-laden World War I drama about fighter pilots with a starring role for an unknown actor, the company’s founder, David Ellison.
It was a box office bomb.
Twenty years later, in a twist fit for Hollywood itself, the tiny studio once brushed off as a billionaire scion’s vanity project is poised to be an entertainment behemoth. With that once-unknown actor at its helm and a merger with Paramount already under its belt, Skydance is now on the cusp of another takeover that once seemed unthinkable, this time of storied giant Warner Bros. Discovery.
“It’s only a surprise to those who haven’t been paying attention to the long game,” says Walter Nicoletti, founder of the film production company Voce Spettacolo, noting Skydance’s focus on financing hit movies and accumulating assets while partnering with some of the biggest companies in the business. “This is a sort of a silent takeover. Skydance didn’t start as a predator. It started as an essential partner.”
When Ellison, the son of tech giant Oracle Corp. co-founder Larry Ellison, launched Skydance as a 23-year-old in 2006, the company registered little more than a blip in an industry where he was just another rich newcomer trying to gain a foothold in the warmth of Hollywood's bright lights.
“Flyboys,” the war story it chose as its inaugural feature, did little to raise its profile.
“Cloyingly formulaic,” jeered The Seattle Times. An “inflated wannabe epic,” chimed in The Washington Post. “It’s hard not to giggle,” concluded The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The celebrated critic Richard Roeper echoed the panning reviews of his brethren and the lackluster response of audiences in questioning what the movie’s makers were thinking.
“Why make such a corny and incredibly predictable film?” he wrote.
But Ellison plodded on. As the years ticked by, more flops came but he slowly notched successes too. He partnered with some of the biggest names in the business, including Paramount, Netflix and Apple, and unleashed a string of hits that brought in hundreds of millions at the box office. He lured both talent and streams of financing. He even released the rare film to surpass the $1 billion mark, the 2022 blockbuster “Top Gun: Maverick,” with his studio’s most reliable star, Tom Cruise.
Jason Squire, a former studio executive, emeritus professor at the University of Southern California, and host of “The Movie Business Podcast,” is no fan of the deal that has Skydance poised to take over Warner Bros., seeing the consolidation as reducing competition and hurting the industry. But he nonetheless marvels at how Ellison went from being “not high on the radar” in Hollywood to entertainment’s pinnacle.
“One of the traditions of entering the movie business is serious wealth, or access to serious wealth. But once you get a foothold, you have to demonstrate that wealth — by buying things, acquiring projects,” Squire says. “They became a player.”
Money alone didn’t assure Ellison’s success, Squire says, but it sure helped.
“He became a member at the table when these partnerships and the infusion of dollars really set him up on a really strong trajectory,” he says. “It’s quite amazing.”
In time, the failure of “Flyboys” was not what anyone thought of about Skydance. While there have been a few disappointments, including its reboot of the “Terminator” franchise, a string of “Mission: Impossible” flicks continually put Cruise in the limelight and audiences in theater seats. Hits like “Grace and Frankie” on Netflix gave it an entry to streaming television.
A run-up of successes had rumors swirling what giant might gobble Skydance up.
But in the end, Skydance did the gobbling.
After years of partnering with Paramount, the two companies merged last year, and in the months since, Ellison went on a relentless spending spree, announcing agreements on everything from streaming rights for Ultimate Fighting Championship to a deal with the creators of “Stranger Things,” who were lured from Netflix.
Meantime, while the much larger Netflix once seemed a shoo-in to acquire Warner Bros., Ellison’s Skydance was unrelenting in its counterproposal. On Thursday, it emerged the winner. Netflix walked away from its offer, leaving regulators as Skydance’s only potential foil.
“This was absolutely a meteoric rise. Two decades from its formation to its current position to become one of the most powerful media companies in the world is nothing less than incredible,” says Tre Lovell, a Los Angeles media law and entertainment attorney. “What Skydance has done over the past two decades has not been accomplished by any other media company in history.”
Skydance’s merger with Paramount delivered MTV, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon and a host of other channels, including its flagship CBS, where the change in power has brought turmoil to its news division. If the Warner deal is finalized, Ellison will preside over a sprawling empire that would include HBO, HGTV, the Food Network, and another vast expansion into news with CNN, a move that has some of its employees worried about interference from a family seen as an ally of President Donald Trump.
It also delivers to Paramount, which has sputtered recently at the box office, a studio coming off a banner year. Warner Bros. collected 30 Oscar nominations compared with Paramount’s zero, and accounted for 21% of the domestic box office in 2025. Paramount’s market share was just 6%.
All of it now could be Ellison's. What a difference 20 years makes.
The failure of “Flyboys” had Ellison so depressed, he once said, that he suffered atrial fibrillation that required hospitalization. But for someone from a family so rich that his father owns most of a Hawaiian island, and with a look that GQ described as “the golden glow of the genetically sparkling,” his reversal of fortunes may be unsurprising. In this redemption story, Ellison may be straight out of central casting.
Ellison has scored his biggest big-screen wins with familiar stories from popular franchises like “Transformers,” “Scream,” “Sonic the Hedgehog,” and “Paw Patrol.” His own narrative, emerging the unlikely victor, may strike an equally familiar tone.
“Hollywood has seen David-versus-Goliath moments before,” says Vikrant Mathur, co-founder of the streaming company Future Today.
Matt Sedensky can be reached at msedensky@ap.org and https://x.com/sedensky
The Paramount Pictures water tower appears in Los Angeles on Dec. 17, 2025.(AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)
FILE - The Paramount Pictures water tower is seen in Los Angeles, Dec. 18, 2025, with the Hollywood sign in the distance. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)
FILE - Producer David Ellison poses during the 'Top Gun Maverick' UK premiere at a central London cinema, on May 19, 2022. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali, File)
Paramount Skydance chairman and CEO David Ellison arrives with Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., before President Donald Trump delivers the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress in the House chamber at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Paramount Skydance chairman and CEO David Ellison arrives before President Donald Trump delivers the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress in the House chamber at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
