Andrew Mountbatten Windsor is facing growing calls from US politicians to testify before Congress over his relationship with paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
The former Prince, who was stripped of all titles this week, has been called upon to come before the House Oversight Committee in charge of investigating the US government’s handling of the Epstein case.
At least four members of the Committee have renewed calls for Andrew to testify, while the Met Police has said it is ‘actively’ looking into media reports that Andrew tried to obtain personal information about his accuser Ms Giuffre through his police protection.
Meanwhile, the independent police watchdog – the IOPC – have also gone to the Met Police to ask whether there are matters they should be looking into.
Democrat Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi, who sits on the Oversight Committee, called on the former Duke of York to ‘come clean’ on his dealings with disgraced paedophile Jeffrey Epstein on BBC Newsnight last night.
Mr Krishnamoorthi said he would like to see Andrew testify before the House – calls which were joined by fellow Democrat Stephen Lynch, who told the BBC that Andrew’s testimony ‘might be helpful in getting justice for these survivors’.
Mr Lynch added that while the House Oversight Committee was unable to subpoena Andrew ‘as the situation stands’ he should consider testifying voluntarily.
The UK’s trade minister Chris Bryant echoed these calls, telling the BBC that, if asked, Andrew should go to the US to answer questions about Epstein.
Democrat Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi called for Andrew to testify before the House Oversight Committee in charge of investigating the US government’s handling of the Epstein case on BBC Newsnight last night
At least four members of the Committee have renewed calls for Andrew to testify, while the Met Police has said it is ‘actively’ looking into media reports that Andrew tried to obtain personal information about his accuser Ms Giuffre through his police protection
Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, as he is now known, the last time he was seen in public driving out of Royal Lodge a month ago
Buckingham Palace released a public statement announcing Andrew would no longer be a prince
He said: ‘I think that, just as with any ordinary member of the public, if there were requests from another jurisdiction of this kind, I would expect any decently minded person to comply with that request.’
American lawyer Gloria Allred, who has represented some of the victims of Jeffrey Epstein, has long called for Andrew to speak to US law enforcement about his former friend Epstein ‘under oath’ – something he has ‘declined’ to do so far, she said.
‘This is a man who should no longer walk with honour. He should be ashamed of himself,’ she said, calling the news of Andrew losing his title and grand home ‘long overdue’ and ‘definitely welcome’.
Last night, new emails revealed that Andrew told Jeffrey Epstein it would be ‘good to catch up in person’ months after the child sex offender was released from prison.
The disgraced former Duke of York said he would try to ‘drop by’ New York later in the year in an email sent on April 15 2010 – after Epstein had admitted to forcing a child into prostitution.
The two were later pictured together in Central Park in New York in December 2010 in a meeting Andrew claimed in his 2019 Newsnight interview was to break off their friendship.
The conversation, released on Friday in unsealed court documents, sees Epstein suggest that Andrew should meet American banker Jes Staley, who was later forced out of Barclays in 2021 for his own ties to the paedophile.
The email was released as part of documents from a 2023 legal battle between the US Virgin Islands, where Epstein owned a private island, and JP Morgan over its alleged dealings with the financier, which the bank settled.
Andrew told Jeffrey Epstein it would be ‘good to catch up in person’ months after the child sex offender was released, new emails showed
Royal Lodge in Windsor Great Park, Andrew’s former home
Andrew was dogged by allegations he sexually abused Virginia Giuffre, who took her own life in April, after she was trafficked by Epstein
It comes a day after the King formally stripped his brother of his Prince title and banished him from Royal Lodge.
In the exchange, Epstein, who was released from prison in July 2009, suggests Andrew should meet Mr Staley in London on April 22 2010.
Andrew replied: ‘I would love to but sadly heading into the stans today and back via Kiev next Fri/Sat, so will miss him.
‘But I will make sure I meet him soon on another trip.
‘Also I have no immediate plans to drop by New York but I think I should at some stage soon.
‘I’ll look and see if I can make a couple of days before the summer.
‘It would be good to catch up in person.’
Epstein then forwarded the email to Mr Staley, who was subsequently banned from holding senior roles in the financial sector by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in 2023, after it found that he misled the regulator over the nature of his relationship with the disgraced financier.
Andrew, Virginia Giuffre and sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell in a photo reportedly taken in 2001, when Giuffre was 17 years old
In the 2019 Newsnight interview with Emily Maitlis, the former prince claimed his visit to New York to see Epstein in 2010 was the ‘wrong decision’ but he wanted to end their friendship in person.
He said: ‘I wanted to make sure that if I was going to go and see him, I had to make sure that there was enough time between his release because it wasn’t something that I was going into in a hurry but I had to go and see him, I had to go and see him, I had to talk.’
When asked by Maitlis if he regretted the ‘whole friendship with Epstein’, the former duke replied: ‘Now, still not and the reason being is that the people that I met and the opportunities that I was given to learn either by him or because of him were actually very useful.’
The Mail on Sunday earlier this month revealed a bombshell email from Andrew where he secretly told Epstein ‘we are in this together’ a day after the newspaper first published the infamous picture of the Duke with his alleged teenage sex victim Virginia Giuffre.
In the astonishing message, Andrew said he was ‘concerned’ about the impact this newspaper’s revelations would have on his friend, but reassured the vile billionaire that the pair would ‘rise above’ press scrutiny.
It was sent to Epstein 12 weeks after Andrew had supposedly ceased all contact with the convicted sex offender.
The leaked email provides definitive proof that the Duke lied in his interview with BBC’s Newsnight when he claimed he ‘never had any contact’ with Epstein after the pair were pictured walking together in Central Park in December 2010.
On Thursday evening, the Royal Family stripped Andrew of his Prince title – and kicked him out of Royal Lodge.
Buckingham Palace said in an unprecedented statement that ‘censures are deemed necessary’.
The palace added: ‘His Majesty has today initiated a formal process to remove the style, titles and honours of Prince Andrew.
‘Prince Andrew will now be known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor. His lease on Royal Lodge has, to date, provided him with legal protection to continue in residence.
‘Formal notice has now been served to surrender the lease and he will move to alternative private accommodation.
‘These censures are deemed necessary, notwithstanding the fact that he continues to deny the allegations against him.
‘Their Majesties wish to make clear that their thoughts and utmost sympathies have been, and will remain with, the victims and survivors of any and all forms of abuse.’
The shamed royal will now effectively have the status of a commoner and be known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor.
Andrew has also agreed to leave Royal Lodge in Windsor and it is understood he is to move into an undisclosed private residence on the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk as soon as practicable.
The former duke had tainted the reputation of the royal family with his association with Epstein and, for many years, was dogged by allegations he sexually abused Virginia Giuffre, who took her own life in April, after she was trafficked by the financier.
He has strenuously denied the allegations.
