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Keir Starmer calls on Andrew to testify in US over Jeffrey Epstein links

The comments came after the US justice department released new documents on Friday that refer repeatedly to Mountbatten-Windsor, who was stripped of his royal titles last year.

3 min readFeb 1, 2026 05:36 AM IST First published on: Feb 1, 2026 at 05:36 AM IST
Justice Department Jeffrey EpsteinBritain’s Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly known as Prince Andrew, looks round as he leaves after attending the Easter Matins Service at St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, England. (Photo: AP)

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor should testify before the US Congress over his links to the late financier Jeffrey Epstein, following the release of a fresh set of Epstein files, the Guardian reported.

Speaking to reporters while on a visit to Japan, Starmer said anyone with information about Epstein’s crimes should be willing to share it. “You can’t be victim-centred if you’re not prepared to do that,” he said.

The comments came after the US justice department released new documents on Friday that refer repeatedly to Mountbatten-Windsor, who was stripped of his royal titles last year.

Epstein Files Latest Update
Images from an undated and redacted document released by the US Department of Justice, photographed Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026, show Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly known as Prince Andrew, leaning over an unidentified person. (Photo: AP)

Starmer said his priority remained the victims of Epstein. “Firstly, I have always approached this question with the victims of Epstein in mind,” he said. On whether Mountbatten-Windsor should apologise, Starmer added: “That’s a matter for Andrew.”

The newly released files include photographs and emails that suggest Mountbatten-Windsor remained in contact with Epstein even after Epstein’s 2008 conviction for soliciting underage girls. One email indicates that Epstein was invited to Buckingham Palace in September 2010, two years after his conviction.

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The documents also show that Epstein discussed arranging meetings between Mountbatten-Windsor and young women. In one exchange, Mountbatten-Windsor asked Epstein whether it was “good to be free” from house arrest and said he would be “delighted” to meet a 26-year-old Russian woman described as “clever” and “beautiful”.

Epstein Files Latest Update
A document showing an email exchange between Jeffrey Epstein and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly known as Prince Andrew, and who Epstein referred to as “The Duke,” that was in a U.S. Department of Justice release, is photographed Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026. (AP Photo)

US lawmaker Suhas Subramanyam, a Democratic member of the House oversight committee, had last year asked Mountbatten-Windsor to sit for a deposition as part of an investigation into how US authorities handled the Epstein case. “He has been hiding from us,” Subramanyam said, according to the Guardian.

Mountbatten-Windsor has previously denied wrongdoing. In 2022, he paid a reported £12m settlement to Virginia Giuffre, who accused him of sexual abuse after being trafficked by Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. The settlement was made without an admission of liability.

The files also contain correspondence involving other public figures, including emails showing continued contact between Epstein and British political and business figures after his conviction.

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Epstein died by suicide in a New York jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges. Maxwell is serving a 20-year prison sentence in the US for child sex trafficking.

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