King Charles III should face public questioning about what role, if any, he played in settling Prince Andrew's sexual assault lawsuit filed by Jeffrey Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre in 2021, the CEO of Britain's leading anti-monarchy group told Newsweek.
Graham Smith, who has led the campaign to abolish the British monarchy for over a decade as CEO of Republic, filed an official complaint with the Metropolitan Police on Thursday after Prince Andrew's name was featured over 70 times in documents unsealed by a U.S. court, relating to a 2015 lawsuit brought by Giuffre against Ghislaine Maxwell.
Giuffre claimed that she was forced to have sex with Andrew when she was 17 years old by Maxwell and Epstein, both of whom were friends of the prince.
In 2021, following a TV interview in which he denied knowledge of having met Giuffre and made attempts to discredit her claims against him, she filed a civil lawsuit against Andrew over her allegations of sexual assault.
Andrew has maintained a strong denial of these allegations and settled the lawsuit in 2022 for an undisclosed sum, reported to be in the region of £12 million ($15 million), after retiring from his public roles and duties with the monarchy.
Republic has requested the police examine the unsealed documents from Giuffre's 2015 lawsuit to identify any legal recourse the prince may be liable to face.
Newsweek reached out to Buckingham Palace and legal representatives of Prince Andrew via email for comment.
At the time of Andrew's settling the Giuffre lawsuit, British newspaper the Daily Telegraph reported that the prince may have received financial help in raising the millions needed from his mother, Queen Elizabeth II. The Sun claimed that his elder brother, Charles (then Prince of Wales) was also helping. At the time, the palace did not comment on these reports.
Now that Andrew's relationship with Epstein is once again being discussed, Smith believes it is time for the king to face questioning too.
"[Charles] needs to answer questions about what the palace knew when, and I think he ought to be answering those questions in front of cameras and being accountable for his own role in this scandal, which has been dragging on since 2011 when we first found out about Andrew's relationship with Epstein," the Republic CEO told Newsweek.
"It's been reported that Charles was, in part, behind paying off Virginia Giuffre for £12 million. And so far, their only actions have been about saving themselves and reputation management, not about ensuring there's justice for victims. So, I think that that needs to be the focus from now on, not worrying about whether or not it damages the monarchy or which house [Andrew's] living in Windsor Great Park."
Smith said that the money the royals exist on is "given to them" by the British public, and there should be total transparency on whether any of it was used to settle the Giuffre lawsuit.
"It's essentially closed down a significant part of the case by avoiding Andrew having to go to court. And this was after Andrew spent many years denying about having met her and making all sorts of excuses, coming out of all sorts of extraordinary claims about pizza restaurants and so on. And then they turn around and give Virginia Giuffre about £12 million. So, you know it does beg the question about what was behind that?"
Moving forward with Republic's new report to the Met Police, Smith stated that "there should be no difference between the way Andrew is treated and the way anybody else is treated and that is the significant issue here, is that there is an appearance that Andrew is being allowed to get away with this because of who he is and who he's related to."
In response to the Epstein document release, a Metropolitan Police spokesperson told Newsweek that no investigation has been launched.
"We are aware of the release of court documents in relation to Jeffrey Epstein," they said. "As with any matter, should new and relevant information be brought to our attention we will assess it. No investigation has been launched."
James Crawford-Smith is Newsweek's royal reporter, based in London. You can find him on X (formerly Twitter) at @jrcrawfordsmith and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page.
Do you have a question about King Charles III, William and Kate, Meghan and Harry, or their family that you would like our experienced royal correspondents to answer? Email royals@newsweek.com. We'd love to hear from you.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
James Crawford-Smith is a Newsweek Royal Reporter, based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on the British royal family ... Read more
