Former deputy Labour leader Baroness Harriet Harman has called on Queen Camilla to meet victims of Jeffrey Epstein during the upcoming state visit to the US.
There have been repeated calls by US congressman Ro Khanna and the family of Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre for a meeting with the King and Queen, and The Mail On Sunday reported that the Queen had been approached by victims’ rights groups.
But a source has since reiterated that the King and Queen do not plan to meet survivors of the convicted sex offender during their four-day trip at the end of the month.
Baroness Harman, who is the UK’s special envoy for women and girls, told LBC’s Tonight With Andrew Marr that a refusal from Camilla to meet Epstein’s victims when she was already due to meet other survivors of male violence would not “sit with” Camilla’s other work on the issue.
She also pointed to the Queen’s previous meeting with French rape survivor Gisele Pelicot.
“Remember, she met Gisele Pelicot in Clarence House, and hugged her and wrote to her after her amazing standing up for her rights in France, and she’s been asked to meet the Epstein victims.
“And I think it would be very good if, as well as meeting other victims of male violence, which she’s scheduled to do anyway, she does meet the Epstein victims.”
She later added: “And since they’ve asked to see her, if she refuses to see them when she is seeing other victims of abuse, it wouldn’t sit with what she does all the time, and which she’s been doing, actually, since long before she became Queen.”
She said she hoped Camilla would “hear my plea” to show what an opportunity it is to show the victims that she is “on their side”.
The visit, the King’s first to the US as monarch, will mark the 250th anniversary of American independence and herald the start of celebrations across the US.
The Queen has been a long-term supporter of abused women and sexual violence survivors and during the state visit will engage with organisations advocating for survivors of domestic abuse.
But royal sources have already said the legal implications of Charles and Camilla coming into contact with any of Epstein’s survivors, and the King’s constitutional position, would make a meeting impossible while there are ongoing UK police investigations into matters related to Epstein.
The royal family has been dealing with the issue of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor for years, disgraced by his association with Epstein and recently arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office, over his connection with the paedophile, and released under investigation.