Buckingham Palace has confirmed that King Charles III will not meet Sky Roberts, the brother of the late Virginia Roberts Giuffre, during the monarch’s four-day state visit to the United States beginning on April 27, 2026, citing active police inquiries and potential legal proceedings as the reason for its position.
The Palace issued an unusually detailed statement explaining that any engagement that could affect ongoing police inquiries or legal action resulting from them “would be to the detriment of the survivors themselves in their pursuit of justice.” The statement was provided to multiple outlets ahead of the visit, which will take the King and Queen Camilla to Washington, New York, and Virginia between April 27 and April 30. It was not fully confirmed whether Roberts submitted a formal request to the Palace, though the institution made clear no meeting would take place.
Roberts had publicly appealed for a brief audience with the King, framing it as an act of acknowledgement rather than political intervention. “I’m not asking them to fly me over there and meet in the palace. The King will be 10 minutes away from the family of Virginia, from me. I just want 10 minutes with him so he can do the right thing,” Roberts told reporters. He said the King had an opportunity to stand with survivors and effect meaningful change for future generations.
His sister, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, was one of the most prominent accusers of the King’s brother, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. She alleged she was trafficked by the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and sexually abused by the former prince when she was 17. Giuffre died by suicide in April 2025 at the age of 41. Mountbatten-Windsor has consistently denied all allegations of wrongdoing.
Mountbatten-Windsor was stripped of all royal titles in October 2025. Thames Valley Police arrested him in February 2026 on suspicion of misconduct in public office, over allegations that he shared confidential government trade documents with Epstein during his tenure as the United Kingdom’s special trade representative. He now lives at Wood Farm on the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk. He has not been charged with any sex-related offence.
Roberts plans to use his proximity to the royal visit productively, meeting United States senators at Capitol Hill to lobby for proposed legislation known as Virginia’s Law, which would eliminate statutes of limitations in sex trafficking cases.
King Charles has previously expressed his “deepest concern” over events surrounding his brother and has pledged through the Palace that any police investigation would receive his full cooperation. Congressman Ro Khanna publicly criticised the Palace’s refusal to engage with survivors, warning it risked damaging the monarchy’s credibility in the United States.
