LONDON — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has called on the former Prince Andrew to testify before Congress about his dealings with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Starmer’s remarks come after the latest release of files related to the disgraced financier appeared to show Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, as he is now known, kneeling over a woman whose face is redacted.
Meanwhile, a woman has separately alleged that she was sent to the U.K. by Epstein in 2010 for a sexual encounter with Mountbatten-Windsor, according to her lawyer.
The woman was in her 20s at the time of the alleged encounter at the then-prince’s royal residence, Brad Edwards of the Florida-based law firm Edwards Henderson told the BBC late Saturday. NBC News has not verified the claim or her identity, and Mountbatten-Windsor did not respond to a request for comment on the allegations.
Starmer told reporters earlier Saturday: “In terms of testifying, I have always said anybody who has got information should be prepared to share that information.”
“You can’t be victim-centered if you’re not prepared to do that,” he said. “Epstein’s victims have to be the first priority.”
Democrats investigating Epstein called on Britain’s former prince to answer questions about his links to Epstein in November, days after King Charles stripped his younger brother of his royal titles amid growing pressure on the palace.
Starmer said at the time that the request was a matter for Mountbatten-Windsor to consider “personally.”
A spokesman for Buckingham Palace, which no longer speaks for Mountbatten-Windsor on press matters, said Saturday that they will not provide any additional comment. In October, the palace said that Mountbatten-Windsor “continues to deny the allegations against him.”
Mountbatten-Windsor did not immediately respond to a request for comment Saturday. He has “vigorously” denied any wrongdoing in connection with Epstein and his accomplice, convicted child sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell, previously, and has never been criminally charged.
The Justice Department on Friday released an avalanche of long-awaited investigative files relating to Epstein, including more than 3.5 million pages, 2,000 videos and 180,000 images.
That constituted about half of the more than 6 million Epstein-related documents the DOJ collected, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said during a press conference.
The release includes many emails, “large quantities of commercial pornography and images that were seized from Epstein’s devices,” some of which were taken by Epstein, Blanche added. Much of the material was redacted.
No details were provided on the circumstances or timeline surrounding the photos of Mountbatten-Windsor, also formerly known as the Duke of York, kneeling over the unidentified woman. In two of the images, he is seen touching the person, who is fully clothed, on her stomach. There is no specific indication of wrongdoing.
An email exchange between Epstein and “The Duke” released Friday also suggested that Epstein invited Mountbatten-Windsor to have dinner with a 26-year-old woman.
The messages were exchanged in August 2010, two years after Epstein pleaded guilty to soliciting a minor.
Mountbatten-Windsor was formally stripped of his titles and status as a prince in November and told to leave the 30-room mansion where he had lived for more than 20 years.
A car believed to be driven by Britain’s Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor leaves the entrance to the Royal Lodge, a 30-room property where he has lived since 2003, at Windsor Great Park in Windsor on Feb. 1.Justin Tallis / AFP – Getty Images
Pressure mounted following the posthumous publication of late Epstein survivor Virginia Giuffre’s posthumous memoir, which details her allegations that Mountbatten-Windsor had sex with her on multiple occasions.
He reached a legal settlement with Giuffre for an undisclosed amount in February 2022 after she filed a civil case against him in a New York court accusing him of sexually assaulting her when she was 17 years old. He has repeatedly denied having met her and previously denied that a photograph of the two of them is real.
