Here are some photos of King Charles on Easter Sunday, entering and leaving church on the Windsor Castle complex. I’m surprised that Camilla wore bright red? She usually chooses softer colors for Easter, as do most women. Most women would feel weird about wearing scarlet red to church, but not the side-chick queen, obviously. Anyway, Charles and Camilla have about three weeks to go before they head to Washington for their first state visit to America. It’s not going well at all. It’s going to be a huge embarrassment for both of our countries, honestly. Trump is a buffoon who will probably invade like five other countries between now and then.
Meanwhile, this state visit is immensely unpopular politically in the UK. Charles will be trying to avoid a million different political landmines, not least of which is the fact that he’s meeting with one of Jeffrey Epstein’s closest associates and friends (Trump) while also trying to avoid speaking to or seeing Epstein’s victims. The king’s brother is currently being coddled and protected on the king’s private estate, even as the British authorities investigate Prince Andrew for his myriad crimes, not least of which is sex trafficking. Well, Congressman Ro Khanna is now giving interviews to British media, exerting pressure on Charles to meet with the Epstein survivors during the state visit. From Khanna’s Times interview:
…Yet with the King confirmed to visit the US this month, Khanna says there is more to be done. In an open letter last week, the Democrat called on the monarch to meet survivors of Epstein to hear “how powerful individuals and institutions failed them”.
When we meet in his office, filled with enthusiastic young advisers, Khanna, who praises the King for his climate advocacy, says: “This could be a defining moment for the monarchy to keep it relevant to my generation in the 21st century. My grandfather was jailed by the British monarchy — he spent four years in jail in the 1930s and 1940s as part of Gandhi’s independence movement. My generation and those younger don’t have much tolerance for institutions that feel they’re apart from democratic society or above norms. So this is an opportunity for the King to say that the modern monarchy is going to be a force for public good.”
Khanna adds: “His challenge isn’t Trump — Trump’s the past — his challenge is you’re going to have people in their fifties leading this country in 2028. What are you saying to them about the monarchy?”
So far, the suggestion from Buckingham Palace is that a meeting with survivors won’t be possible as it could interfere with Epstein-related police investigations, including into the King’s brother, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. So, isn’t this a losing battle? “That’s typical staff,” Khanna says. “The staff always says no. My hope is that the King will look at this from the perspective of his historical legacy.”
“He’s either going to come to America and half the questions are going to be about Epstein — what did the Palace know and how often did Epstein go there and what are the documents and why didn’t they speak out earlier? — or he could come here and take a role as a global statesperson by meeting with these survivors privately and just acknowledging their pain, acknowledging that they were denied justice, and calling for accountability in Britain and around the world.”
And Andrew? “He does not have to get into any of the legal matters concerning his brother. The survivors have told me they don’t want to discuss any of the legal matters with him,” Khanna says. “He has a law firm — I know, because we sent a letter to a law firm; they can make it very clear that he’s not here to discuss the particulars of any of the survivors’ cases.”
“He’s there as one of the respected world leaders saying that these women were abused and that justice was denied and he is calling for justice. I think if he doesn’t do that and he comes here on the 250th anniversary of America — that stands for fairness and equality and was a revolution against the idea that some people have more power than others — then he looks out of touch. And it diminishes the credibility of the monarchy for future generations.”
I know Republicans (here in America) roll their eyes at Rep. Khanna at times, but you can tell that he was one hell of a lawyer. He lays out an excellent case for why Charles should meet with the survivors, not just because it’s the right thing to do in real time, but it’s the right thing to do for Charles’s legacy and the future of the monarchy. He’s also being shady as f–k in a way British people will recognize and appreciate – the reference to sending a letter to the king’s lawyers, the reminder and implied threat that if Charles doesn’t get ahead of it, the Epstein questions will dominate the state visit. Well done. I hope this shifts some perspectives in the palace.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.
