London, United Kingdom. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Saturday that former Prince Andrew should testify before a US congressional committee following new revelations about his links to the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
New US Justice Department files
New files related to Epstein published by the US Justice Department on Friday included emails that showed King Charles’s brother maintaining regular contact with Epstein for more than two years after Epstein was found guilty of child sex crimes.
The files also include pictures appearing to show Andrew crouching over and touching the waist of an unidentified woman lying on the floor, with her face blacked out in the redacted images.
BBC report cites allegation of 2010 encounter
The BBC on Sunday quoted a US lawyer as saying a woman had alleged she was sent, while in her 20s, by Epstein to Britain for a sexual encounter with Andrew in 2010 in a royal property on the estate of Windsor Castle.
Representatives for Andrew, who has always denied wrongdoing in connection with Epstein, did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on the BBC report.
Reuters also sought comment from the US lawyer, Brad Edwards of the US firm Edwards Henderson, who made the claims on behalf of the unidentified woman, who the BBC said was not British.
Previous allegations and settlement
The allegation represented the second claim of a woman being flown from the United States to Britain to meet Andrew after Virginia Giuffre said she was forced to have sex with him in London.
In 2022, Andrew made an undisclosed payment to settle a lawsuit brought in the United States by Giuffre, who died by suicide in April. Andrew, 65, has always denied Giuffre’s account.
Royal actions and Andrew’s position
The king stripped his brother of his title of prince and evicted him from his mansion in the grounds of Windsor Castle in November, following previous revelations about his links with Epstein.
Andrew, 65, now uses the family name Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and has denied wrongdoing in connection with Epstein. He had previously denied maintaining ties with Epstein after Epstein’s 2008 conviction, apart from a 2010 visit to New York to end their relationship.
What impact could a US congressional testimony by Andrew have on the ongoing scrutiny of his links to Epstein?
