Your Majesty,
We’ve both had a very busy week. While you enjoyed the pageantry of your American state visit, red carpets, garden parties, and carefully staged moments of compassion, I stood outside the White House with a chair reserved for you – waiting. Not as a spectacle. Not as a stunt. But as a survivor asking to be seen.
I prepared that moment with care. I studied the traditions you value – Darjeeling tea, cucumber sandwiches, the details that matter in your world. In mine, what matters is this: You didn’t show up.
Your visit celebrated 250 years of America’s history. I watched as you stepped onto American soil, greeted with flower bouquets as the red carpets rolled out for you. I hoped you had heard about my efforts.
While you met President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania attending cultural engagements, mingling with those who sit in power, I amplified unheard voices, preserving stories, standing with people who have nothing, who have been ignored for too long. You missed the opportunity to be a king who could’ve been remembered as the one who stood alongside us in this pivotal moment where abuses of power are coming to light.
Is it just royal power that needs to receive glory, compliments, and a standing ovation from Congress and the government that continues to fail Epstein Survivors who have cried in silence? I went to Washington hoping we could meet for a few minutes. Is it just royal power that needs front-page news all week, with perfectly staged photo ops while I sit in the rain, my feet covered in mud? Survivors who pushed this story into the mainstream are cast in the shadow of these moments of civility and unity.
I met Jeffrey Epstein through my friend Lisa Phillips. I was offered a scholarship to study at the School of Visual Arts. Jeffrey Epstein called himself a great philanthropist and he told me, "you never have to see me again". I had no idea I was walking into the den of Hell for two years, leading to a lifetime of nightmares.
I was abused, physically, mentally, and spiritually. I blamed myself all these years. And now, the world continues to blame survivors like myself by telling me I was over the age and volunteered to go back over the course of two years. I was vulnerable – and systemically denied an education due to my immigration status. Jeffrey Epstein used all of my weaknesses to control me, and I was trapped in no time.
Since the release of the files, we learned many more names associated with the convicted sex offender. What did they see? What roles did everyone play? We need answers. We need the truth.
Despite all my media appearances and research organising my lovely tea party for you, there was only a nod to survivors whose lives were shattered by a global trafficking network operated by a man who had connections to some of the most powerful men in the world. You said: “In both of our countries, it is the very fact of our vibrant, diverse and free societies that gives us our collective strength, including to support victims of some of the ills that, so tragically, exist in both our societies today,” in your speech on Capitol Hill Tuesday afternoon.
A palace aide told The Independent it was on your “mind to acknowledge victims of abuse, so they are naturally incorporated in this line.” What a powerful statement it would be to name us, or meet with us explicitly.
This isn’t just about victims. I wasn’t asking for a speech. I wasn’t asking for a statement. I would love to receive the treatment of the wealthy men who sit a stone’s throw away from the likes of those named in the files or from the worlds that enable men like Epstein to act with impunity. A handshake. A moment. An acknowledgment that we exist. Instead, you walked past us figuratively and literally.
I feel let down, with fellow Survivors of Jeffrey Epstein. I staged my protest accompanied by the mother of the late Carolyn Andriano, who was brave during her testimony at the Maxwell trial that led to her conviction. Carolyn recounted the horrible abuse she suffered at the hands of the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who victimised over 1,000 young women and children, with Maxwell aiding his crimes.
On Wednesday, you stood with 9/11 families. I watched closely, because I am one of them too. I lost a cousin and a friend in the towers. I know grief. I know loss. I know what it means to be part of a tragedy that reshaped history. And yet, you did not stand with Survivors of Epstein.
Here is the reality no one wants to say out loud: The Epstein scandal didn’t end with his death. It exposed a system. A network. A circle of powerful people who have still not fully answered for what they knew.
Who will lead the call for them to testify? Who will stand on the side of transparency instead of tradition? Silence doesn’t protect credibility. It destroys it.
On Thursday, 30 April, you continued to Virginia, attending engagements. I prepared an art exhibition curated by students and alumni from the institution Jeffrey Epstein sent me to study with promises of a scholarship. He withdrew the scholarship and abused me non-stop for years instead.
While you were in Shenandoah meeting with the Monican First Nation Tribal Chief, I spent that day speaking to Chicana activist, Dorinda Moreno to preserve Indigenous First Nations’ culture, archiving over 50+ years of activist works.
On 1 May, while you wrapped up and departed for Bermuda, I exhibited “Indigenous Children' s Voices” – portraits of the most vulnerable who are subject to the ongoing human trafficking crisis. I showed a copy of the transcript from evidence in my own Epstein Files and “400”, a portrait of Ghislaine Maxwell, with the eagle snatching the Washington Monument. The works I exhibited coincided with every day of your state visit.
I concluded with “400,” where the tyrant has fallen and the crown has been tossed aside. I would’ve asked you what your thoughts are about the State Seal of the Commonwealth State of Virginia. I assume ancestors of the American settlers made this portrait symbolising Americans must never tolerate a tyrant?
You subtly referenced the Magna Carta while addressing Congress: “No one is above the law, including kings”. It seems we are in agreement there.
In conclusion, if you do truly have Epstein Survivors in mind, I will travel overseas and curate a tasting menu for you, setting the perfect atmosphere. I will plan the meal of a lifetime catered to suit your palate. We can talk and rub shoulders and joke in the same manner as you have done with the men who sit in the corridors of power, influencing how our world moves forward.
I look forward to hearing from you and meeting with you for an historic engagement, and refuse to give up.
Sincerely,
Rina Oh
Ahead of the King's state visit to the US, Buckingham Palace told USA Today that he would not be visiting Epstein survivors during the trip because it may impact ongoing police inquiries. "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," a spokesperson told the new outlet. Glamour UK has also reached out to Buckingham Palace for comment.
