Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, who was Prince Andrew, gave a disastrous about Jeffrey Epstein to BBC Newsnight in 2019, after which he and the Royal Family faced scrutiny
American lawmakers have called on Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor to come to the US and testify amid controversy over his links to paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.
King Charles has today been praised by US officials for stripping Andrew of his prince title. Lawmakers voted to release the Epstein files last night — passing by 427 to 1 — and, after this, officials said the US could learn a lot from King Charles and UK’s “urgency”.
Speaking outside the Capitol, Republican Rep Thomas Massie said: “There’s becoming a reckoning in Britain that needs to happen in the United States: a prince lost his title, the ambassador to the United States lost his job. We need to see those same kind of consequences here.”
The 54-year-old politician referred to the Andrew scandal, and the sacking of Peter Mandelson, the UK’s ambassador to Washington, in his address following the big vote in the capital city. Despte the debacle, Andrew has always denied any wrongdoing.
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The Government has said there is “no need” to legislate to remove titles from Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor despite him remaining by law the Duke of York. However, the 65-year-old man suffered a blow this week as he reportedly had his name wiped from all the plaques on the Falkland Islands, put up after he defended territory as a helicopter co-pilot.
And the US indicated it too wants to follow suit in the Falkland Islands’ stance. Mr Massie added: “As my colleague Ro [Khanna] said, there shouldn’t be buildings named after these perpetrators of these heinous crimes, there shouldn’t be scholarships named after them, and there needs to be accounting.”
Democratic Rep Ro Khanna warned Andrew could be dragged before the House of Congress to testify. He spoke alongside Mr Massie last night. Mr Khanna continued: “I do think that Prince Andrew does need to come and testify at our oversight committee, and that can be bipartisan. But I share [Massie’s] view that the urgency that the British people have shown in getting justice needs to inspire an urgency here in America.”
In October, King Charles removed the last of the Mountbatten-Windsor family member’s royal titles amid renewed attention on Prince Andrew’s connections to the late financier Jeffrey Epstein.
Buckingham Palace announced that Andrew would no longer use the style “His Royal Highness,” and that all remaining official patronages and military appointments associated with the Crown had been revoked.
The move represented the final chapter in a long-running and painful controversy for the royal family. It came after Andrew had already stepped back from public duties in 2019, following his widely criticized BBC interview addressing his relationship with Epstein.
