Palace officials were reported to be "dismayed" after a controversy involving Lord Peter Mandelson and his ties to the late financier Jeffrey Epstein erupted on the eve of US President Donald Trump's state visit to the United Kingdom, the Daily Mail reported on Saturday.
The newspaper said King Charles called the episode an "unwelcome distraction" as Downing Street prepared for the visit. The government dismissed Lord Mandelson from his appointed role as Britain’s ambassador to Washington after questions were raised about his relationship with Epstein and his answers to ministers, the reports said.
According to the Daily Mail’s account, Prime Minister Keir Starmer's office received a file from the Cabinet Office propriety and ethics team before Lord Mandelson's appointment that prompted three direct questions, posed by the prime minister’s chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney. The questions, as reported, asked why Lord Mandelson had maintained a friendship with Epstein after the financier's conviction, why he had stayed at one of Epstein's properties while Epstein was jailed, and whether he was a founding supporter of a charity backed by Epstein. The BBC reported that the peer's replies were "economical with the truth."
Labour sources told the Daily Mail they were concerned about the timing of the revelations and the political fallout. The sacking left Britain without an ambassador-designate to the United States at a delicate diplomatic moment and heightened scrutiny of other royal links to Epstein, the reports said.
The controversy has also prompted internal unrest within Labour, the Daily Mail reported, noting tensions between Mr. Starmer and members of his staff. The paper said some Labour MPs described Lord Mandelson as "a bomb waiting to go off," and that speculation was growing about potential leadership manoeuvres, including the possibility of Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham returning to the House of Commons. Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch accused the prime minister of misleading the public about his knowledge of Lord Mandelson's relationship with Epstein and said Mr. Starmer faced "very serious questions" about who knew what and when.
Downing Street sources told the Daily Mail they believed Lord Mandelson had not been fully forthcoming when questioned. Because Mandelson was sacked rather than resigning, the reports said he could be eligible for a taxpayer-funded payout tied to the ambassadorial appointment.
Officials at Buckingham Palace, according to the Daily Mail, were frustrated that the scandal had overshadowed the state visit preparations. A diplomatic source quoted by the paper said the Palace had been "grumbling about how unhelpful it all is." The king’s reported remarks and the palace reaction have not been independently confirmed by Buckingham Palace to other outlets.
Separately, in Austria, three elderly nuns who were evicted from their convent said they had broken back into the building they had left after decades of service and returned to live there, the Daily Mail reported.
Sisters Bernadette, 88, Regina, 86, and Rita, 82, who taught at the Goldenstein convent and girls' school near Salzburg for more than six decades, were removed from the premises in December 2023 after the Archdiocese of Salzburg and Reichersberg Abbey took over the site in 2022. The nuns told the paper they had been promised lifelong residence but were later moved to a Catholic retirement home, which church officials say was necessary for their care.
Supporters and former pupils said they helped the women leave the retirement home, gain entry to their old rooms at Goldenstein castle and settle back in. Local clergy asserted the rooms were no longer suitable for proper medical care; provost Markus Grasl told the Daily Mail the return was "completely incomprehensible" and that the rooms "failed to meet the requirements for proper care." Supporters have been bringing groceries and doctors have carried out health checks, the reports said.
Sister Rita was quoted as saying, "I am so pleased to be home," and Sister Bernadette said they had been denied the right to remain. A former student who took part in assisting the sisters said, "Goldenstein without the nuns is just not possible. When they need us, they just have to call us and we will be there."
The two stories reflect separate strains of public debate: one involving political and diplomatic sensitivity in London at a moment of high-profile statecraft; the other an emotionally charged local dispute in Austria over the care and housing of women who spent much of their lives serving a single religious community. Both accounts were detailed by the Daily Mail; some corroborating details, including characterization of Lord Mandelson's responses, were reported by the BBC. Buckingham Palace, Downing Street and representatives for Lord Mandelson did not immediately issue statements to other outlets confirming the narrative provided to the Daily Mail. Church officials at Goldenstein declined to reverse their assessment that the convent rooms were no longer fit for elderly residents.
The state visit by President Trump was due to begin on Tuesday. The government and palace face the immediate task of finalising public and private arrangements for the president’s arrival amid heightened media attention on the Mandelson matter. In Austria, local authorities and church leaders must balance questions of care and safety for the elderly nuns with petitions from former pupils and supporters who want them to remain at Goldenstein.
Further developments in both stories were likely to draw scrutiny: in the United Kingdom for any official inquiries into what ministers knew before the Mandelson appointment and whether parliamentary standards were breached, and in Austria for any official interventions to ensure the welfare of the returned nuns while resolving ownership and care arrangements for Goldenstein castle.