Britain’s political rulebook got tossed out the window this weekend as Prime Minister Keir Starmer publicly pressed ex-Prince Andrew to cooperate with the American probe into Jeffrey Epstein. The unusually blunt remarks — made during a stopover in Japan — signal a major shift in how the U.K. is handling its most radioactive royal.
Starmer told reporters that Epstein’s victims must come first and that anyone with information should be willing to share it. Translating the political politeness: Andrew can no longer hide behind palace walls or decades of royal tradition.
Andrew’s nightmare intensified with the latest Epstein file dump, which includes documents and disturbing photos — including one showing him on all fours over a young woman. They aren’t the most explicit images in the trove, but they reinforce a long-running pattern and place him closer than ever to Epstein’s trafficking operation.
Royal watchers say this moment feels different. For decades, politicians avoided criticizing royal family members. Now, with Andrew stripped of his title and mired in scandal, that protection seems to have vanished — and Starmer’s comments made that crystal clear.
Historian and biographer Andrew Lownie, who has spent years mapping Andrew’s Epstein ties, says the former prince has dodged accountability by refusing to cooperate with U.S. investigators, lawyers, or British police. According to Lownie, the U.K. has never launched the kind of serious criminal inquiry that could force the truth into daylight.
“There is so much strong evidence against him,” Lownie said, arguing that the Metropolitan Police, National Crime Agency, and even U.K. tax authorities should be investigating him right now. Lownie believes political pressure — not royal preference — will determine whether that finally happens.
Some of the unreleased material he reviewed, plus new emails in the Epstein files, raise fresh questions. In one exchange, Epstein appears to arrange a 26-year-old Russian woman for Andrew to meet, with the royal responding enthusiastically and signing off using his formal title. Combined with other evidence about Epstein shuttling young women between properties, the messages hint at potential trafficking involvement — a crime covered under the U.K.’s Modern Slavery Act.
Until now, the palace strategy was to quietly strip Andrew of titles, settle his civil case with Virginia Giuffre for millions, and hope public outrage would fade. But each new document release has had the opposite effect. The latest files even suggest Andrew may have passed sensitive information to Epstein.
American lawmakers, meanwhile, are growing louder. Members of the House Oversight Committee have repeatedly asked Andrew to sit for a transcribed interview. His camp has brushed it off as political theater, insisting he’ll never testify — especially not in the United States.
But Starmer’s background as a former prosecutor gives his comments more weight. If Andrew were to cooperate abroad, the pressure on British authorities to reopen their own investigation would be intense. In several alleged incidents, women were trafficked into Britain — meaning U.K. police may eventually have no choice but to step in.
For the royal family, this problem is already spilling into the next generation. Insiders say Prince William has no desire to inherit a monarchy still haunted by his uncle’s scandal — especially while Andrew continues living comfortably on royal land.
Lownie believes only a full parliamentary inquiry into Andrew’s years as a trade envoy, with all related files unsealed, will finally crack the long-standing wall of silence. He expects more damaging material to emerge when the paperback edition of his book, Entitled, releases later this year.
As Lownie puts it: “The royal family’s strategy of hoping this goes away isn’t working. We’ve only seen 1 percent of the Epstein files.”
With the prime minister now openly calling for Andrew to share what he knows, the old palace line — “a matter for the royal family” — is officially dead. The question is no longer whether Andrew will have to answer for his Epstein ties… but when, where, and under how much pressure.
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