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A US congressional body looking into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has formally written to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, previously Britain’s Prince Andrew, asking that he undergo questioning as part of its investigation into Epstein’s wrongdoings.

In a communication made public on Thursday, a US representative, the leading Democrat on the House oversight committee, asked that King Charles III’s sibling help with its inquiry.

The official demand to respond to queries follows a week after Mountbatten Windsor was lost his royal title and consented to give up his property in Windsor.

Documents and Allegations

Mountbatten Windsor’s name appears in documents and flight logs subpoenaed from Epstein’s estate and publicly released by the committee. He has also been accused by one of Epstein’s survivors, the late Virginia Giuffre, of misconduct.

“The panel will probe claims of misconduct by Mountbatten Windsor, and will demand details on Epstein’s operations, associates, and connections based on the men’s long-term and thoroughly recorded friendship,” the committee said in a announcement.

It requested information from Mountbatten Windsor on specifics of his friendship with Epstein, who killed himself in a New York prison cell in 2019. Andrew has always categorically denied any wrongdoing.

Substance of the Letter

“It has been widely reported that your association with Mr Epstein commenced in 1999 and that you continued associating through and after his 2008 guilty verdict for soliciting minors for commercial sex acts,” the letter said.

It stated further: “It has also been claimed that you went with Epstein to his New York property, the Queen’s estate at Balmoral, and to Mr Epstein’s private island in the US Virgin Islands, where you have been charged of assaulting underage individuals. This intimate friendship with Mr Epstein, coupled with the freshly uncovered 2011 email exchange in which you wrote to him ‘we are in this together’, further bolsters our belief that you may have key insights about the offenses committed by Mr Epstein and his accomplices.”

A notification regarding the letter said it was co-signed by 13 other Democrats on the committee and asks a response by 20 November.

Earlier Comments and Assistance

The letter comes a week after another Democrat on the committee stated: “Andrew should be asked to give evidence before the committee. The people should be able to know who was harming women and underage individuals alongside Epstein.”

However, the congressman does not have the authority to legally require the duke and Congress itself cannot compel statements from a foreign national.

In 2020, US agencies said that Mountbatten Windsor neglected to reply to US requests for an interview. The then US attorney for the southern district of New York said that authorities and the FBI had contacted Andrew’s legal team to inquire on his previous pledge that he was “ready to help any suitable law enforcement agency”.

“It’s reasonable for people to know whether Prince Andrew has fulfilled with that pledge,” the attorney said, adding that to date he had “provided absolutely no cooperation”.

Appeals for Justice

The representative said in a comment that “affluent and well-connected men have escaped accountability for far too long. Now, one-time Prince Andrew has the opportunity to be honest and deliver redress for the victims. Oversight Democrats will not cease advocating for responsibility and clarity for those affected of Epstein and his group of partners.”

Another endorser, a Virginia Democrat, said that after hearing evidence to the committee from Epstein’s victims, as well as public reporting of disclosed papers, “it is crucial that Andrew assists with the current inquiry. If he is not guilty, then he can clear his name.”

The lawmaker stated further: “And if not, our investigation will show that, and the victims will receive much-delayed accountability. The monarchy’s actions removing Andrew of his honors suggest there is more to this situation.”

The letter was issued on the same day the British king publicly stripped Mountbatten Windsor of his princely title. Charles III formally made the change – which had been revealed a week ago – by issuing a “official document” which the royal office published in the Gazette, the UK’s official public record.