Palace was handed Andrew's controversial envoy emails six years ago | BBC News

Emails which showed Andrew Mountbatten -Windsor sharing confidential government information were given to Buckingham Palace six years ago, the BBC has learnt.According to court documents, they were among an archive of 3 ,000 other emails taken from the account of Jonathan Rowland, a businessman who travelled the world with Andrew when he was an official trade envoy.Ben King reports.

Andrew Mountbatten -Windsor was arrested in February and the police issued a fresh call for people to come forward with information last week.He was suspected of misconduct in a public office.It has emerged that Buckingham Palace might have relevant information.It was sent an archive of 30 ,000 emails six years ago, many covering the time when Andrew was the UK's official trade envoy.That's the role the police are looking into.The emails came from the account of Jonathan Rowland, a businessman and close associate of the former prince.

They were taken from his account in 2013 and passed to a retail entrepreneur called Kevin Stanford, who had had a long -running legal dispute with him.Court documents show that he passed the emails to the Lord Chamberlain, the top official at the palace, in 2020.Earlier this year, emails emerged in a newspaper, suggesting that Andrew had shared a confidential Treasury briefing about Iceland with Rowland.They said he should consider it before you make your move.Rowland told us this email was taken from his account and was subject to legal proceedings, indicating that it was part of the archive given to the palace.We asked the palace if they had seen the email six years ago and what they did about it.

They said they couldn't comment on an ongoing police inquiry.Ben King, BBC News.