Virginia Giuffre's brother wants King Charles to 'look me in the face'

As King Charles III joins President Donald Trump at the White House for a private tea next week, Sky Roberts will be a mile away, meeting with senators in the U.S. Capitol.

The two are connected in an inextricable way by their siblings.

Sky Roberts’ sister is Virginia Roberts Giuffre. She accused the king’s younger brother, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the former prince, of sexually abusing her at the age of 17 when she was trafficked by Jeffrey Epstein.

Giuffre died by suicide a year ago at 41.

Mountbatten-Windsor was stripped of his titles in 2025 and forced out of his royal residence. He settled a civil lawsuit with Roberts Giuffre back in 2022, but never admitted to wrongdoing. He hasn’t been charged for any alleged sex crimes, but was arrested this year on suspicion of misconduct in public office over allegations he passed confidential documents to Epstein. He now lives on Sandringham Estate, the king’s private estate in Norfolk, England.

Roberts wants the king to meet with him and survivors of sexual abuse during his four-day visit to the United States, slated to begin on April 27. His sister was one of the most outspoken survivors against the disgraced prince and Epstein. 

“I want the king to look me in the face, to see my sister in me. I’m her blood. I want him to see Virginia in a different way than just reading it in the news,” Roberts told USA TODAY in an exclusive interview. “This isn’t about the king coming here and partying and celebrating with Trump. This should be about you coming here and taking a stand, to set an example for other world leaders and come forward for survivors.”

Roberts understands this is a big ask.

While Charles and Camilla are joining dignitaries at a black-tie state dinner at the White House, Roberts will be at his chain hotel. He will be prepping talking points to lobby for “Virginia’s Law,” named after his sister, which would eliminate the statute of limitations that has shielded sex traffickers such as Epstein.

For years, the British family ignored any wrongdoing by the man who was once second in line to the throne.

However, in various statements released through Buckingham Palace, Charles has expressed his "deepest concern" about the events concerning his brother. He has said he supports an investigation and that it would have his "full and wholehearted support and co-operation." Britain's monarch has stated that the law must apply to everyone. It was not immediately clear if Roberts made a direct request to meet with the king.

Buckingham Palace said in a lengthy statement provided to USA TODAY that it would not be possible during the state visit for a meeting to take place. "We fully understand and appreciate the survivors’ and their advocates' position, but can only reiterate that anything arising from such meeting that could potentially impact on ongoing police inquiries and assessments, and any potential legal action that could result from that, would be to the detriment of the survivors themselves in their pursuit of justice."

The king and queen’s state visit will mark the 250^th anniversary of America’s independence, but also is to smooth Great Britain’s relations with Trump.

“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 says. “King Charles has the opportunity to stand with survivors, to make a change for the next generation.”

Roberts believes the U.S. and U.K. governments failed his late sister. They failed to investigate Mountbatten-Windsor’s role in sex trafficking and abuse of girls. And U.S. officials still haven't released the entirety of the Epstein files or held all those responsible accountable.

Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted in 2021 of sex trafficking a minor to Epstein. She was sentenced to 20 years and is now at a minimum-security prison in Texas. Epstein died by suicide in prison in 2019, while still awaiting trial.

‘Virginia started a movement’

The timing of Charles’ visit feels almost divine, Roberts says.

Two days before the royals' arrival, Roberts will participate in a memorial to celebrate his sister's life on April 25, marking the first anniversary of her death.

“It almost felt as if it was set up by Virginia, dancing in the sky,” he says. “I think of her (saying), ‘Don’t worry, let me put the chess pieces in play. I know you can be there for me.’ ”

The event will also recognize domestic violence awareness and suicide prevention.

Hundreds of women now call themselves the Survivor Sisters and have pushed to identify Epstein associates who say they abused or raped them or participated in trafficking.

“There has been such an outpouring of love and support. We wanted it to be a moment for all survivors,” Roberts says. “Virginia started a movement. She did something really special in standing up. She deserves this moment.”

‘She protected me for so long. It’s my turn.’

A year ago, Roberts was in Perth, Australia, with his sister.

She wasn’t doing well. Although she had almost finished writing her memoir, “Nobody’s Girl,” which was published posthumously in Oct. 2025, she was struggling.

She and her husband were estranged. Roberts Giuffre, her brother, says that she confided that her husband had been abusive. After an argument, her husband took out a restraining order, which prevented her from seeing their three children, ages 19, 16 and 15, until June.

Her older brother, Danny Wilson, came in late March to be with her. Roberts followed in April.

“We didn’t want Sissie to be alone,” he says.

They spent the next two weeks cooking, hanging out together just as they did as children, growing up among the Cypress trees in a rural area outside West Palm Beach. When they were young, it was Roberts Giuffre who looked after her little brother, waking up and comforting him in his crib when she was just 5. She carried him around like her own baby, his legs dangling.

She once saved him from a poisonous water moccasin, and she protected him when their parents were fighting, covering his ears. She also shielded him from abuse at the hands of her father, she wrote in her book.

This time, Roberts played the role of protector.

He wanted to keep her safe. “They seemed so happy,” his wife, Amanda, says. “There were actual giggles, the kind we hadn’t heard for years.”

Roberts and his sister went shopping at thrift stores and just sat together, sometimes in silence. “She was herself again,” he says of those last days.

The next day, April 25, 2025, she was gone.

Roberts found her.

In the days after losing a loved one, it can feel impossible to move under the weight of grief. With suicide, that weight is compounded, often by guilt.

Roberts felt this.

“People don’t understand what happens when you lose someone that way," he says. "You feel this sense of, I couldn’t take that weight from her while she was still here. She protected me for so long. It’s my turn. I want to do this for her.”

Giuffre Roberts’ husband and children held a private service in Australia.

Roberts returned to his Colorado home, where he and Amanda had visited a wolf sanctuary, a place his sister loved. He marked her death in a way that was intimate and private. Roberts Giuffre had told her brother she wanted her ashes spread there.

His sister’s bravery, he says, gets him up to tell her story, when all he wants to do is cry. He lobbies on her behalf, stands with other survivors of Epstein.

Roberts knew his sister was writing her memoir, but he didn’t get a copy until about a week before publication.

In it, there were things he knew, including how she first met Mountbatten-Windsor in March 2001. He was a prince. She was 17. Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell introduced them.

Maxwell told the teenager her job was to take care of the now-former prince.

He wipes his tears on the inside of his shirt.

He takes a breath. “She used to tell me as an adult, ‘I’m so freaking proud of you, my baby brother, you inspire me,’ ” he says. “But she was the one who inspired me. She’s the reason I’m the father and husband I am.”

“It was beautiful in the end,” Amanda says, “that she got to lean on her brother for help.”

He and his wife lay in bed that October night, each with a copy of the book. Amanda was a few pages ahead. The two were close, like sisters, with Roberts Giuffre holding Amanda’s hand through the 26-hour labor of her first child.

“Skydy,” Amanda says, the name Roberts Giuffre called her little brother.

Roberts laughs. “My name was not Sky. It was Skydy or little brother.”

When Amanda got to this part of the book, she stopped.

“I heard her speak his name when I was reading. I thought, this is going to be a really hard chapter for him,” she says. She told him to steel himself for it. “But it was a gift that she unknowingly gave him.”

‘Justice for survivors’

The king’s visit is an opportunity, Roberts says. 

“The royal family has a few options,” he says. “They can have a stain on their family moving forward. Or they can come forward.”

He says it isn’t just his sister and the former prince who know what happened. Others know, too.

Roberts applauds the king for his statement in support of a "proper investigation." But so far, that hasn't been specifically about the sex abuse allegations. “We want him to be a leader who steps up and says they are behind free and fair investigations and that they want to see justice for survivors,” Roberts says.

His sister’s story is often told as one of bravery – of coming forward, of telling her story repeatedly even when no one believed her.

He says her story is the story of so many other survivors, many of whom have now become like sisters to him and his wife. Then he pauses, "Remind me to text Maria Farmer," he says to his wife. She is another woman who has accused Epstein of abuse, and Roberts has been helping her.

These women were like Roberts Giuffre’s sisters.

He can no longer stand with her. So they will stand together.

Laura Trujillo is a national columnist focusing on health and wellness. She is the author of "Stepping Back from the Ledge: A Daughter's Search for Truth and Renewal" and can be reached at [email protected].

Contributing: Kim Hjelmgaard in London.