A 238‑page commemorative book compiled by Ghislaine Maxwell and held by Jeffrey Epstein’s estate, released Monday evening by the Republican‑led House Oversight Committee, contains a passage from an unidentified former assistant who wrote that she met royals and world leaders and “sat on the Queen of England’s throne” at Buckingham Palace.
The entry, which appears in the book titled "The First Fifty Years," was provided to Congress by Epstein’s estate. In the passage the assistant praises Epstein, recounts international travel and a series of high‑profile encounters, and boasts of experiences such as flying on the Concorde, scuba‑diving, and attending fashion shows. The book also includes risqué photographs and a handwritten note referencing bikini pictures.
The assistant’s note names a range of public figures she said she had met, including Prince Andrew, former President Bill Clinton, the Sultan of Brunei, and Donald Trump, along with celebrities such as Naomi Campbell, Kevin Spacey and Michael Jackson. The passage reads in part that she had “seen the private quarters of Buckingham Palace” and had “sat on the Queen of England’s throne,” and it lists other adventures and skills she said Epstein enabled.
The release follows earlier disclosures in which Democrats on the committee published a single page that referenced President Trump. The full document was made public by the committee on Monday evening. A page attributed to Trump in the book contains a crude sketch and a handwritten note that some outlets attributed to the president; the White House called the published page “FAKE NEWS” and Trump’s camp has denied the president drew or signed the image. Trump has told reporters he considers the matter “a dead issue” and has sued News Corp., the Wall Street Journal’s parent company, over initial reporting about the sketch.
The book, compiled as a celebratory volume for Epstein’s 50th birthday, includes other handwritten tributes and photographs, some of which show figures associated with Epstein and Maxwell at private gatherings and international events. One photograph published in other outlets in 2020 showed Ghislaine Maxwell and actor Kevin Spacey seated on the coronation thrones of the late Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip during a 2002 tour of Buckingham Palace; that image corroborated that Epstein had been received at the palace on at least one occasion, though it does not prove the assistant whose entry appears in the book was present on that specific visit.
Prince Andrew has been publicly linked to Epstein for decades; the duke faced scrutiny over his association with the financier after allegations by a woman who said she was trafficked by Epstein and forced into sexual encounters with the royal, claims Andrew has denied. Epstein’s relationships with prominent figures and the circulation of social and political elites through his residences in New York and elsewhere have been central to multiple civil suits and criminal investigations.
Jeffrey Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 in Florida to soliciting prostitution from a minor and served a jail term under a controversial plea deal. He died in a Manhattan jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex‑trafficking charges. Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted in 2021 on charges related to recruiting and grooming minor girls for Epstein and is serving a 20‑year federal prison sentence.
Media outlets that reported on the book said the New York Post contacted Buckingham Palace and representatives for Prince Andrew for comment. The Post also reported that the assistant’s entry included a handwritten aside referencing bikini photographs and ended with a trailing joke. The identity of the assistant who wrote the tribute has not been publicly confirmed.
The House Oversight Committee’s release of the full book adds to a trove of material that has been examined by congressional investigators and by journalists reporting on Epstein’s network. The documents and images in the volume provide contemporaneous evidence of Epstein’s social connections and the access some of his associates and employees described, but they do not, on their face, substantiate allegations of criminal conduct by named third parties.
The release prompted fresh attention to Epstein’s past associations and to the ancillary legal and political disputes that have followed the financier’s conviction and death. Congressional staff and outside lawyers continue to review materials from Epstein’s estate and related archives as part of broader inquiries that have extended across jurisdictions and into civil litigation.