At a glance
- Communities Secretary Steve Reed has urged Andrew Mountbatten Windsor to cooperate with the US congressional inquiry into his ties with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
- The request follows new evidence cited by US lawmakers, including financial records allegedly referring to “massage for Andrew,” which they say raise serious questions about his involvement.
- The inquiry has been reignited by new posthumous allegations from Virginia Giuffre who claims she was forced to have sex with Andrew on three occasions when she was a teenager. He strongly denies the allegations.
Andrew Mountbatten Windsor has been told by the Government he should fly to America to answer questions about his “long-standing friendship” with paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.
Communities Secretary Steve Reed stressed that the former Prince should help the inquiry by a US Congress committee.
“Any individual who can help with an investigation of that gravity should go and help if they can,” he told LBC Radio on Friday.
“He’s a private individual, it’s up to him but I think people should do what they can to try to help.”
The Cabinet minister’s words piled pressure on Andrew to agree to the request by members of the US Congress who wrote to him asking for a “transcribed interview” in connection with his links with Epstein.
In the letter, sent to the former prince on Thursday, the US politicians said their House Oversight Committee had identified “financial records containing notations such as ‘massage for Andrew’ that raise serious questions”.
The formal request came as the King officially stripped his disgraced brother of both his HRH style and his prince title.
The letter, signed by 16 members of Congress, requested Andrew responds by November 20.
Requesting he sit for an interview with the committee, the letter reads: “We write to seek your co-operation in the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform’s (Committee) investigation into Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking operations.
“The committee is seeking to uncover the identities of Mr Epstein’s co conspirators and enablers and to understand the full extent of his criminal operations.
“Well-documented allegations against you, along with your long-standing friendship with Mr Epstein, indicate that you may possess knowledge of his activities relevant to our investigation.
“In the interest of justice for the victims of Jeffrey Epstein, we request that you co-operate with the committee’s investigation by sitting for a transcribed interview with the Committee.”
Mr Reed’s intervention came after Sir Keir Starmer also suggested Andrew, who has now been cast aside by the Royal Family and Government, should speak to the committee.
Speaking to broadcasters in Brazil, where he is attending the Cop30 summit, the Prime Minister said: “Well, in the end, it’s a matter for him personally.
“My view, and this is not about the individual case, more broadly, is that anybody who has relevant information should always be willing to give it to whatever inquiries need that information.
“But the individual decision is a matter for him.”
Andrew’s links to Epstein eventually led to King Charles dramatically stripping him of his titles - putting an end to his public life.
The move followed the publication of his main accuser Virginia Giuffre’s posthumous memoirs Nobody’s Girl, and the US government’s release of documents from the paedophile’s estate.
Ms Giuffre alleged she was forced to have sex with Andrew three times - once at convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell’s home in London, once in Epstein’s address in Manhattan, and once on the disgraced financier’s private island, Little St James.
The incident at Maxwell’s home allegedly occurred when Ms Giuffre was 17 years old.
Andrew is accused of taking part in an orgy with “underage” girls, as well as Ms Giuffre, during the alleged incident on Little St James.
The former prince vehemently denies all allegations made against him.
Addressing the allegations in the letter, the Democrat members of Congress said: “Given these recent events and the appalling allegations that have come to light from Ms Giuffre’s memoir and other reliable sources, the Committee requests that you make yourself available for a transcribed interview with the Committee and provide insight into the crimes of Jeffrey Epstein’s co-conspirators.
“Due to the urgency and gravity of this matter, we ask that you provide a response to the Committee’s interest by November 20, 2025.”
As well as the allegations made by Ms Giuffre, the committee is also seeking testimony from Andrew on accusations against him that he asked his personal protection officer to “dig up dirt” for a smear campaign against his accuser in 2011.
The letter continues: “This fear of retaliation has been a persistent obstacle to many of those who were victimized in their fight for justice.
“In addition to Mr Epstein’s crimes, we are investigating any such efforts to silence, intimidate, or threaten victims, and are interested in any avenues that may further shed light on these activities.”
Epstein took his own life in a New York prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking and conspiracy charges.
