The Prime Minister has made a rare intervention into royal matters as he spoke about Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s responsibilities to the victims of Jeffrey Epstein.
As new files on Epstein were released by the US State Department, the links between the former prince and the convicted sex offender became even clearer.
The documents include photos of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor kneeling above a woman who is lying on the ground. There are also emails including one in which Andrew invites Epstein to Buckingham Palace.
Speaking to reporters on his way to Japan, Sir Keir Starmer said ”Epstein’s victims have to be the first priority.”
He continued ”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.”
The Prime Minister also said ”as for whether there should be an apology, that’s a matter for Andrew.”
It is rare for the PM to speak directly about matters involving the Royal Family. However, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor is now a private citizen, although he remains eighth in line to the throne and is still a Counsellor of State, able to act on behalf of the Monarch in some limited circumstances.
Last autumn, The King stripped him of his HRH and Prince title by issuing Letters Patent and removed his titles of Duke of York, Earl of Inverness and Baron Killyleagh by asking the Lord Chancellor to remove them from the Roll of Peerage.
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor has always denied any wrongdoing.
The latest papers show he attended an intimate gathering with Jeffrey Epstein in New York months after the disgraced financier had been released from prison for sex offences.
The material forms part of a newly published tranche of files issued by the US Department of Justice on Friday, adding further detail to the former prince’s continued association with Epstein following his 2009 conviction.
Among the documents are emails sent by the Hollywood publicist Peggy Siegal, who appears to have organised what she described as a “last-minute casual dinner” in December 2010 while Mountbatten-Windsor was visiting New York on what was characterised as an unofficial private trip.
The correspondence indicates that the dinner was arranged at Epstein’s Manhattan townhouse, where Mountbatten-Windsor was staying during the visit. At the time, he later claimed, the purpose of the trip was to formally end his relationship with the financier.
The visit nonetheless drew intense scrutiny after photographs emerged of the pair walking together in Central Park, undermining claims that the relationship had been severed.
In his widely criticised BBC Newsnight interview in 2019, Mountbatten-Windsor said he had chosen to confront Epstein in person rather than by telephone, remarking that ending the friendship remotely would have been “the chicken’s way of doing it”.
However, the newly released emails suggest that social engagements continued during the trip.
Epstein was arrested again in 2019 on federal charges of sex trafficking but died by suicide in prison before standing trial.
