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A US congressional body looking into pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein has sent a letter to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, formerly Britain’s Prince Andrew, demanding that he undergo questioning as part of its inquiry into Epstein’s wrongdoings.

In a letter released on Thursday, a lawmaker, the top Democrat on the House oversight panel, urged that King Charles III’s sibling help with its inquiry.

The official demand to provide testimony arrives a week after Mountbatten Windsor was stripped of his royal title and consented to surrender his property in Windsor.

Documents and Accusations

Mountbatten Windsor’s name features in documents and travel 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 oversight committee will investigate allegations of wrongdoing by Mountbatten Windsor, and will request data on Epstein’s operations, network, and associates based on the men’s long-term and thoroughly recorded friendship,” the committee said in a press release.

It sought details from Mountbatten Windsor on specifics of his association with Epstein, who died by suicide in a New York prison cell in 2019. Andrew has consistently categorically denied any impropriety.

Details of the Request

“It has been publicly reported that your relationship with Mr Epstein began in 1999 and that you continued associating through and after his 2008 sentencing for trafficking underage girls for commercial sex acts,” the letter said.

It stated further: “It has also been alleged that you journeyed with Epstein to his New York residence, the Queen’s home at Balmoral, and to Mr Epstein’s secluded island in the US Virgin Islands, where you have been charged of assaulting minors. This intimate friendship with Mr Epstein, along with the recently revealed 2011 email exchange in which you wrote to him ‘we are in this together’, further supports our suspicion that you may have key insights about the offenses committed by Mr Epstein and his accomplices.”

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

Past Remarks and Assistance

The letter comes a week after another Democrat on the committee stated: “Andrew should be called to give evidence before the panel. The public has the right to know who was assaulting women and minors alongside Epstein.”

However, the congressman does not have the power to compel the duke and Congress itself cannot force evidence from a foreign national.

In 2020, US agencies said that Mountbatten Windsor did not respond to US appeals for an interview. The then US attorney for the southern district of New York said that lawyers and the FBI had reached out to Andrew’s legal team to follow up on his earlier promise that he was “willing to help any suitable law enforcement agency”.

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

Calls for Accountability

The representative said in a statement that “affluent and well-connected men have avoided justice for far too long. Now, former Prince Andrew has the chance to come clean and deliver justice for the victims. We will not cease pushing for answerability and transparency for victims of Epstein and his group of partners.”

Another signatory, a Virginia Democrat, said that after listening to accounts to the committee from Epstein’s accusers, as well as media coverage of leaked documents, “it is vital that Andrew works together with the current probe. If he is blameless, then he can vindicate himself.”

The lawmaker stated further: “And if not, our probe will demonstrate that, and the affected individuals will receive much-delayed accountability. The monarchy’s actions taking away Andrew of his styles indicate there is further to this case.”

The letter was issued on the same day the British king publicly stripped Mountbatten Windsor of his princely title. Charles III publicly made the change – which had been declared a week ago – by issuing a “letters patent” which the crown office made public in the Gazette, the UK’s public registry.