British PM calls on Prince Andrew to testify over Epstein links

The former British royal was again featured in newly released files linked to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has called on Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor to testify before the US Congress after the former royal was featured extensively in the latest tranche of Epstein files released by the US Department of Justice.

The documents were published under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, signed into law by US President Donald Trump in November last year, which requires the Justice Department to release federal records linked to investigations into Jeffrey Epstein. Mountbatten-Windsor, who was stripped of his royal titles last year, appears in emails and photographs included in the cache released Friday.

Speaking to reporters on Saturday, Starmer was asked whether the former prince should apologise and give evidence to US lawmakers if requested.

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“Firstly, I have always approached this question with the victims of Epstein in mind. Epstein’s victims have to be the first priority. As for whether there should be an apology, that’s a matter for Andrew,” he said.

“But yes, in terms of testifying, I have always said anybody who has got information should be prepared to share that information in whatever form they are asked to do that. You can’t be victim-centred if you’re not prepared to do that,” he added.

The brother of King Charles III has repeatedly denied wrongdoing and has previously claimed he ended his relationship with Epstein after the financier’s first conviction for soliciting a minor for prostitution in 2008.

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However, the latest release includes photographs and email exchanges between the two from 2010, two years after the disgraced financier pleaded guilty in Florida.

The images show the former royal kneeling over an unidentified woman lying on the floor, with no context provided as to when or where they were taken. The emails also feature Epstein proposing that Andrew have dinner with a “beautiful, trustworthy” 26-year-old Russian woman.

Last year, the king stripped his brother of royal titles and honours following renewed controversy linked to Virginia Giuffre, who died by suicide in April. In 2022, Andrew settled a civil lawsuit with Giuffre, who alleged that he raped her three times in 2001, when she was 17 years old.