A ROYAL scandal is brewing in the Swedish palace after “grinning” pics of Princess Sophia were allegedly sent to the paedophile financier Jeffery Epstein just six months before his first arrest.
The release has sparked public outrage, with people demanding to know what the palace knew about the relationship between Epstein and the princess, who joined the royal family in 2015.
The photos, exclusively obtained by Expressenshow the would-be-princess, then just 23, smiling alongside her mentor Barbro Ehnbom and two other unidentified women.
The photo is dated 2008, three years after the palace say Sofia last had contact with Epstein.
And alarmingly, that was only six months before his first arrest and conviction for prostitution.
Entrepreneur Ehnbom, who allegedly received millions of dollars from Epstein, sent the “Swedish Girls” happy snap to Epstein for his 55th birthday along with the note: “Happy birthday from your BBB girls”.
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“BBB” is understood to be “Barbro’s Best and Brightest”, a network founded with the goal of “recruiting smart, young, beautiful girls” from business school.
Leaked emails between Ehnbom and Epstein reveal the businesswoman got the billionaire paedophile to repeatedly invest millions in her exclusive network.
In turn, Epstein allegedly got to meet a large number of young Swedish girls at dinners, luxurious wine parties, champagne-filled parties and exclusive get-togethers, as Today’s ETC reported.
Johan T. Lindwall, a leading expert on the Swedish royal family, publicly called out the palace on TV: “When someone marries into the royal family, they are asked a million questions by the security police and also by the court”.
“I can’t imagine that Sofia didn’t mention that she met Epstein several times in New York.”
The palace claim the model-turned-royal only crossed paths with Epstein in 2005 – meetings that happened a full decade before she married Prince Carl Philip.
“Princess Sofia met the person in question a few times about 20 years ago,” an initial statement read.
But in more leaked emails, Ehnbom wrote in 2012 that Princess Sofia and Prince Carl Philip “are on every magazine cover” in Sweden and that it is “wonderful”.
And five years later, she sends a reminder to Epstein that the princess is part of the BBB network, which she again calls “your girls.”
At this time, Epstein was being investigated by the FBI and prosecutors for human trafficking and a global sex crime empire with over 1,000 confirmed victims.
Scrambling, a new statement has doubled down that the princess had no contact with the paedo since 2005.
“No one can be expected to remember everyone they have met in life, but Princess Sofia recalls meeting Epstein a few times about 20 years ago,” it read.
“We wish to clarify and emphasize that these meetings took place in social settings, such as a restaurant and a film premiere. Information that the Princess received any support from Epstein for acting training or a visa to the United States is false.
“The Princess was therefore never in any form of dependency on him and has had no contact with him for 20 years.”
Sofia, now 41, was a topless model, yoga instructor and charity co-founder before marrying Carl Philip, now 46 and third in line to the throne.
She shot to fame on reality series Paradise Hotel in 2005 before moving to New York to chase acting and modelling work.
Her glamorous blog posts chronicled celebrity-packed parties, exclusive events and her nightlife adventures.
She married the prince in 2015 in a lavish ceremony at Stockholm’s Royal Palace – after years of media scrutiny over her past.
She was allegedly “promoted” into elite circles by businesswoman Barbro Ehnbom, who knew Epstein through Harvard University.
Newly leaked emails, published by nonprofit site ddosecrets.com and reported by the Swedish news outlet Dagens Nyheter, reportedly show Ehnbom pitching her directly to Epstein: “This is Sofia, aspiring actress… Maybe you’d like to meet her.”
She even attached a photo of the then-21-year-old model.
Epstein’s reply read: “I’m in the Caribbean. Does she want to come for a couple of days? I’ll send a ticket.”
The emails suggest he even offered Sofia and a friend acting school placements, invitations the palace insists were never accepted.
Bild reports one of Sofia’s alleged encounters with Epstein took place at a dinner party at his Upper East Side mansion.
Officials say the meetings happened before Epstein’s 2008 conviction and that “Princess Sofia has neither applied for nor attended any form of acting training.”
They also insist she never travelled to Epstein’s Caribbean island and that she had no contact with Epstein after 2005.
But they have not explained why Sofia came into Epstein’s orbit in the first place, nor how far her mentor Ehnbom’s role extended.
The businesswoman went on to attend Sofia’s royal wedding a decade later.