Epstein scandal lingers in background of King Charles’ visit to Washington

By MJ Lee, CNN

(CNN) — As King Charles III and Queen Camilla were being greeted by the US president and first lady with pomp and circumstance designed for royalty at the White House on Tuesday morning, a group of individuals who had been denied an in-person meeting with the king and queen took their chance to be heard a couple of miles down Pennsylvania Avenue.

The group on Capitol Hill included survivors of Jeffrey Epstein, their family members and advocates, who also gathered over the weekend for a memorial for Virginia Giuffre. The late Epstein victim had accused Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the king’s brother, of sexual assault and died by suicide one year ago. The former prince has denied all accusations against him and insisted he never witnessed or suspected any of the behavior of which the late Epstein is accused.

“Today, survivors are here, sitting with members of Congress, still fighting to be heard, still pushing for real accountability, while many of the powerful figures connected to these systems remain just out of reach, unable to acknowledge survivors face to face,” Sky Roberts, Giuffre’s brother, said Tuesday.

“You would expect this to be a moment for the king to give a message to the world that he stands with survivors. We still can’t get that from our own president of the US, who continues to say ‘hoax,’ ‘victims or whatever.’”

Roberts’ brief remarks calling out not just the monarchy but also President Donald Trump (who has not been accused of any criminal wrongdoing related to Epstein), was a stark reminder of how much the scandal continues to rock the highest echelons of society, government and celebrity in both countries. And some Epstein survivors and US lawmakers want the convicted sex offender to be part of the story of the royal visit, even as the king and queen have a different agenda planned.

Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna, who co-sponsored the law that forced the Justice Department to release millions of Epstein files in its possession, had attempted to seize on the royal visit by writing a letter to the king last month requesting that he offer an in-person meeting with Epstein survivors.

But CNN reported that the king and queen do not plan to accept that request during their four-day visit marking the 250th anniversary of US independence, with Buckingham Palace conscious that such a meeting could affect the British legal probe into Mountbatten-Windsor. That decision is in keeping with the king and queen’s broader strategy of avoiding public statements related to Epstein — the late pedophile who has brought so much scandal, shame and pain to the royal family.

As a symbolic head of the British judiciary, the king could be accused of prejudicing the criminal investigation into his brother if he speaks to the Epstein scandal directly.

(When the former Prince Andrew was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office, King Charles expressed his “deepest concern” — while also stressing that “the law must take its course.”)

Instead, Queen Camilla will have multiple meetings with representatives of groups campaigning against domestic violence while in the US, CNN understands.

Meanwhile, King Charles is set to address a joint meeting of Congress on Tuesday afternoon. Khanna said during the roundtable featuring Epstein survivors that the British ambassador told him the king plans to acknowledge the Epstein survivors in his address.

“I hope his flunkies don’t take out the acknowledgement from his text,” Khanna said. “I fully expect the king to be acknowledging … the Epstein survivors when he speaks to our nation and Congress this afternoon.”

The king and queen’s visit this week to Washington has also shined a spotlight on the relative lack of accountability in the US against those who may have aided Epstein and his sex-trafficking ring.

Even with the Justice Department’s release of millions of files related to Epstein in the last several months, only one person — Epstein’s co-conspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell — has been prosecuted for their actions related to Epstein. The DOJ has repeatedly said it has no active investigations into other individuals in Epstein’s circle.

The story has been very different in the United Kingdom. In addition to the investigation into Mountbatten-Windsor, there is a separate criminal probe into the former British ambassador to the US, Peter Mandelson. He is being investigated over claims that he passed sensitive information to Epstein that would have been valuable on Wall Street, was fired by Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and resigned his membership of the Labour Party. Starmer now faces intense political pressure and some calls to resign over his handling of the Mandelson saga.

Lauren Hersh, co-founder of World Without Exploitation, an advocacy organization that works on human trafficking and sexual exploitation and has been closely aligned with many Epstein survivors, told CNN: “King Charles’ visit to the US is an opportunity to do right by the survivors who so bravely confronted one of the world’s most powerful institutions and have requested to meet with him.”

“At the same time, as we honor Virginia and all other survivors of Epstein and Maxwell’s abuse, the US can learn lessons from the UK’s example of holding accountable everyone who participated and perpetuated their criminal network,” Hersh said.

Still, some Epstein survivors have said they are less focused on the king’s visit — and what he may or may not say publicly about the convicted sex offender. They said their efforts are more geared toward accountability in the US, including the full release of the Epstein files and investigations into those who helped Epstein run his sex-trafficking ring.

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CNN’s Max Foster, Annie Grayer and Dugald McConnell contributed to this report.