Police Scotland is making “active inquiries” into the activities of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell during visits to Balmoral Castle, following allegations that women were trafficked to the royal residence in Aberdeenshire.

The force said its work remained at “a very early stage”. It confirmed receiving information but did not disclose the scope of its inquiries or confirm the details of the allegations, which appeared in a newspaper report.

“All inquiries are evidence led, with the needs of victim survivors at the heart of those inquiries,” a spokesperson said. The force added that further comment would be inappropriate.

Mountbatten-Windsor has consistently denied wrongdoing linked to his association with Epstein. No response from his representatives to the latest allegations was included in the available material.

Epstein and Maxwell are understood to have visited Balmoral with Mountbatten-Windsor. A photograph released by US prosecutors during Maxwell’s sex-trafficking trial is believed to show the pair there in 1999, when he reportedly invited them to stay. They were reportedly regular guests at royal residences in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Flight logs record Mountbatten-Windsor and Maxwell travelling with two other passengers on Epstein’s private jet from Luton to Edinburgh on 1 September 2006. In February, Police Scotland appealed for information about the aircraft’s use of Edinburgh Airport, saying it had received no reports or complaints relating to the trip at that point.

Documents released last year by the US Department of Justice also included an email to Maxwell, dated 16 August 2001, from someone signing themselves “A”. The sender said they were at Balmoral and asked: “How's LA? Have you found me some new inappropriate friends?” The supplied material does not establish the sender’s identity. Neither the email nor the travel records, by themselves, establish trafficking at Balmoral.

Epstein died by suicide in a US prison in 2019, aged 66, while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges. Maxwell, described as 60, received a 20-year sentence in 2022 for procuring girls for him.

Mountbatten-Windsor was stripped of his “prince” title last October, when his departure from Royal Lodge was announced. He was arrested in February on suspicion of misconduct in public office and later released. Earlier this month, it emerged that he was challenging Thames Valley Police over search warrants issued before that arrest.

Scottish First Minister John Swinney expressed confidence that Police Scotland would investigate fully. Prime Minister Andy Burnham said the inquiries should remain independent. Balmoral, traditionally the Royal family’s summer residence, was where Queen Elizabeth II died in 2022.