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The Royal Court of Sweden admitted that Princess Sofia met with Jeffrey Epstein “on a few occasions” after newly surfaced emails appeared to connect the royal to the late convicted sex offender.
The former model and reality TV starlet met the disgraced financier through her mentor, Swedish businesswoman Barbro Ehnbom, in 2005, according to emails published by the Swedish outlet Dagens Nyheter and cited by People.
“The recent media reporting regarding Princess Sofia has given rise to speculation about the Princess and her alleged relationship with Jeffrey Epstein,” a spokesperson for the Royal Court of Sweden told Fox News Digital in a statement Wednesday.
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The Swedish Royal Court addressed a recent report about Princess Sofia of Sweden, telling Fox News Digital she met Jeffrey Epstein “on a few occasions about 20 years ago.” They stressed that the meetings took place in social settings, and she never received help from the late convicted sex offender. (Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)
“The Royal Court has responded to questions from Dagens Nyheter about whether the Princess in her 20s was introduced to Jeffrey Epstein.”
“The Royal Court notes the significant media interest in this matter,” the spokesperson shared. “At the same time, it is important that the reporting remains focused on what is relevant. No one can be expected to remember every person they have encountered throughout their life; however, Princess Sofia recalls meeting Epstein on a few occasions about 20 years ago.”
Jeffrey Epstein died on Aug. 10, 2019, while being held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York. His death was officially ruled a suicide by hanging by the New York City medical examiner. (Rick Friedman/Rick Friedman Photography/Corbis via Getty Images)
“We wish to clarify that these meetings took place in social settings, such as at a restaurant and a movie premiere,” the statement continued. “Reports that the Princess received help from Epstein with acting lessons or with a visa to the United States are incorrect.”
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“The Princess has never been dependent on him in any way, nor has she had any contact with him for the past 20 years,” the statement concluded.
Ehnbom reportedly wrote in a December 2005 email, “This is Sofia, an aspiring actress who just arrived in New York. She’s the girl I told you about before I left, who I thought you might like to meet. Maybe we can visit before you go on holiday?” The message included a photo.
Sofia Hellqvist (left) was an aspiring actress, model and reality TV personality before she became a member of the Swedish royal family. (Djamilla Rosa Cochran/WireImage/Getty Images)
Epstein reportedly replied, “I’m in the Caribbean. Does she want to come for a couple of days? I’ll send a ticket.”
According to newly surfaced emails, Jeffrey Epstein (pictured here) invited Princess Sofia, then an aspiring actress and model, to his private island, Little Saint James. (Rick Friedman/Corbis/Getty Images)
It’s believed that Epstein was inviting Sofia to Little Saint James, his privately owned island, where he was accused of sex trafficking minors.
The Swedish Royal Court told the outlet that Sofia was “introduced to the person in question on a few occasions around 2005.” Officials also noted that Sofia, now 41, did not accept the invitation to join Epstein in the Caribbean.
Prince Carl Philip and his wife Princess Sofia after their marriage ceremony on June 13, 2015, in Stockholm, Sweden. (Gisela Schober/Getty Images)
The outlet also published a 2006 email from Epstein’s assistant to Ehnbom that read, “Jeffrey wonders what really happened with Camilla. Did you tell her she has a ticket to New York anytime she wants?”
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Jeffrey Epstein’s former home on the island of Little Saint James in the U.S. Virgin Islands. (Emily Michot/Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
“I think he means Sofia, the little beautiful dark-haired girl who had her friend Camilla with her,” Ehnbom reportedly replied. It was noted that Epstein offered both women spots at an acting school, but there were issues with their visas.
Fox News Digital reached out to Ehnbom for comment.
Prince Carl Philip is the only son of Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia. (Mark Cuthbert/Julian Parker/UK Press via Getty Images)
After the news broke, Sofia was absent on Dec. 10 for the Nobel Prize ceremony in Stockholm, an annual outing that’s essential for the royals. Her husband, Prince Carl Philip, attended with his parents and two sisters, Crown Princess Victoria and Princess Madeleine.
Prince Carl Philip and Princess Madeleine arrive at the Nobel Prize Awards Ceremony 2025 at Stockholm Concert Hall on Dec. 10, 2025, in Stockholm, Sweden. (Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)
In 2008, Epstein pleaded guilty in Florida to state charges of procuring a minor for prostitution and solicitation of prostitution. More than a decade later, in 2019, he was indicted on federal sex-trafficking charges involving minors. He died that year at age 66 while awaiting trial.
“In the mid-2000s, Sofia was an aspiring actress and model trying to establish herself in New York,” royal commentator Amanda Matta told Fox News Digital.
Sofia Hellqvist, who later became Princess Sofia, was bullied by tabloids for her past work as a model. (FameFlynet/Backgrid)
“Unfortunately, Jeffrey Epstein’s social web touched nearly every corner of that world. Being introduced to him at that time doesn’t mean she was complicit in, or even aware of, what would later come to light about his crimes. If anything, young women like Sofia may well have been the ones being groomed, not the other way around.”
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Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell were both indicted on federal sex trafficking charges stemming from Epstein’s years of abuse of underage girls. (Joe Schildhorn/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)
“The kind of straightforward response we saw from Sweden is very characteristic of the Scandinavian monarchies,” Matta said. “They tend to favor calm, pragmatic damage control over the defensive or drawn-out approach we often see from the British royals. I doubt Sofia will face any formal repercussions unless more details emerge that shed light on actual misconduct, given how long ago this took place and how firmly she’s distanced herself from it.”
This undated photo shows Prince Andrew and Jeffrey Epstein at Ascot in the U.K. (Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty Images)
“It could stir up some uncomfortable memories of how the public first viewed her — as a ‘commoner’ and formerly reality TV personality, to put it politely, whom they weren’t sure belonged in royal circles,” Matta warned.
As a model, Sofia famously posed topless with a boa constrictor for the Swedish men’s magazine Slitz. She went on to appear in the reality TV show “Paradise Hotel” in 2005.
Princess Sofia and her family at the Drottningholm Palace Chapel on June 13, 2025, in Stockholm, Sweden. (Iwi Onodera/WireImage/Getty Images)
According to multiple reports, Sofia met Prince Carl Philip, 46, the only son of King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia, at a Swedish nightclub through mutual friends in 2009. Their relationship became public in 2010. The couple married in 2015 and went on to welcome four children.
“Over time, Princess Sofia has worked incredibly hard to rewrite the narrative, and her genuine dedication to patronages is only part of the equation,” said Matta.
“The Swedish royal family’s open embrace of her and non-tolerance of media abuse went a long way towards Sofia’s broader acceptance. The public has already seen Sofia weather controversy, so as long as the palace stays transparent, I expect they’ll see this as the unfortunate but explainable episode that it really is.”
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Princess Sofia and Prince Carl Philip attend Sweden’s National Day on June 06, 2024, in Stockholm, Sweden. (Michael Campanella/Getty Images)
In 2018, Sofia spoke to Sweden’s TV4 about how she was the target of online bullying.
“I was met with an enormous hate storm from people who had opinions about me as a person, about my relationship,” she explained at the time, as quoted by People.
“I was surprised, and it definitely affected me,” the princess admitted. “I didn’t understand that people had such a need to express how badly they felt about me. It was very tough.”
Princess Sofia has publicly spoken out about the harmful effects of online bullying. (Ragnar Singsaas/Getty Images)
The couple has used the Prince Carl Philip and Princess Sofia Foundation to raise awareness about the harmful effects of online bullying and hate speech.
Sofia isn’t the only royal to be connected to Epstein.
In October, Buckingham Palace announced that King Charles had stripped his brother, the former Prince Andrew, of his royal titles and honors amid renewed scrutiny surrounding his friendship with Epstein.
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Prince Andrew was officially stripped of his royal titles and honors by King Charles III on Oct. 30, 2025. He will no longer be styled “Prince Andrew” or “His Royal Highness”, and will instead be known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor (Steve Parsons – WPA Pool/Getty Images)
Andrew, 65, previously stepped back as a senior royal in 2019 after he gave a disastrous interview to the BBC, where he attempted to explain his ties to the pedophile.
Before she died in 2022, Queen Elizabeth II stripped her son of his military titles and patronages after a judge rejected Andrew’s attempt to have a lawsuit against him by his accuser, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, dismissed. He later settled with the American woman out of court for an undisclosed sum. Giuffre, 41, died by suicide in April.
Virginia Giuffre holds a photo of herself as a teen, when she says she was abused by Jeffrey Epstein. (Emily Michot/Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
Matta emphasized that Sofia’s situation bears no real resemblance to Andrew’s.
“That’s really an apples-to-oranges comparison,” she said.