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A US congressional committee investigating sex offender financier Jeffrey Epstein has sent a letter to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, formerly Britain’s Prince Andrew, demanding that he submit to an interview as part of its inquiry into Epstein’s wrongdoings.

In a communication made public on Thursday, a US representative, the senior Democrat on the House oversight committee, asked that King Charles III’s younger brother cooperate with its investigation.

The written appeal to respond to queries follows a week after Mountbatten Windsor was stripped of his royal title and consented to surrender his leased home in Windsor.

Files and Allegations

Mountbatten Windsor’s name is listed in documents and aviation records obtained from Epstein’s estate and disclosed by the committee. He has also been charged by one of Epstein’s victims, the late Virginia Giuffre, of sexual assault.

“The oversight committee will examine accusations of abuse by Mountbatten Windsor, and will request details on Epstein’s network, network, and connections based on the men’s enduring and well-documented friendship,” the committee said in a press release.

It sought information from Mountbatten Windsor on specifics of his association with Epstein, who killed himself in a New York prison cell in 2019. Andrew has consistently strongly denied any misconduct.

Details of the Request

“It has been widely reported that your relationship with Mr Epstein commenced in 1999 and that you stayed connected through and after his 2008 conviction for procuring minors for sex work,” the letter said.

It added: “It has also been claimed that you traveled with Epstein to his New York home, the Queen’s home at Balmoral, and to Mr Epstein’s secluded island in the US Virgin Islands, where you have been charged of abusing minors. This intimate friendship with Mr Epstein, along with the newly disclosed 2011 electronic correspondence in which you wrote to him ‘we are in this together’, further confirms our belief that you may have important details about the wrongdoings committed by Mr Epstein and his partners in crime.”

A announcement regarding the letter said it was supported by 13 other Democrats on the committee and requests a response by 20 November.

Earlier Comments and Collaboration

The letter follows a week after another Democrat on the committee commented: “Andrew should be summoned to testify before the panel. The people has the right to know who was abusing women and minors alongside Epstein.”

However, the lawmaker does not hold the power to compel the former prince and Congress itself cannot compel testimony from a overseas individual.

In 2020, US officials said that Mountbatten Windsor neglected to cooperate to US demands for an discussion. The then US attorney for the southern district of New York said that lawyers and the FBI had reached out to Andrew’s lawyers to follow up on his public commitment that he was “prepared to help any suitable law enforcement agency”.

“It’s reasonable for people to know whether Prince Andrew has honored with that assurance,” the attorney said, adding that to date he had “given no cooperation”.

Calls for Justice

The lawmaker said in a statement that “rich and powerful men have avoided justice for far too long. Now, one-time Prince Andrew has the chance to come clean and deliver redress for the affected individuals. The committee will not halt pushing for responsibility and clarity for those affected of Epstein and his group of co-conspirators.”

Another supporter, a Virginia Democrat, said that after receiving testimony to the committee from Epstein’s survivors, as well as public reporting of leaked documents, “it is essential that Andrew assists with the ongoing investigation. If he is innocent, then he can clear his name.”

The lawmaker stated further: “And if not, our investigation will demonstrate that, and the victims will receive much-delayed redress. The royal household’s actions removing Andrew of his styles show there is further to this story.”

The letter was sent on the same day the British king officially removed Mountbatten Windsor of his HRH style. Charles III officially made the change – which had been announced a week ago – by issuing a “royal decree” which the monarch’s office made public in the Gazette, the UK’s public registry.