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A US congressional body investigating sex offender financier Jeffrey Epstein has formally written to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, once Britain’s Prince Andrew, demanding that he submit to questioning as part of its probe into Epstein’s wrongdoings.

In a communication released on Thursday, a US representative, the senior Democrat on the House oversight panel, urged that King Charles III’s sibling help with its investigation.

The written appeal to respond to queries follows a week after Mountbatten Windsor was relieved of his princely title and consented to give up his leased home in Windsor.

Documents and Allegations

Mountbatten Windsor’s name is listed in papers and travel logs obtained from Epstein’s estate and publicly released by the committee. He has also been accused 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 seek information on Epstein’s activities, associates, and associates based on the men’s longstanding and extensively reported friendship,” the committee said in a announcement.

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

Details of the Communication

“It has been documented that your relationship with Mr Epstein commenced in 1999 and that you remained close through and after his 2008 guilty verdict for trafficking underage girls for prostitution,” the letter said.

It added: “It has also been reported that you went with Epstein to his New York property, the Queen’s residence at Balmoral, and to Mr Epstein’s secluded island in the US Virgin Islands, where you have been accused of abusing minors. This intimate friendship with Mr Epstein, along with the freshly uncovered 2011 electronic correspondence in which you wrote to him ‘we are in this together’, further supports our suspicion that you may have valuable information about the wrongdoings 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 demands a answer by 20 November.

Earlier Remarks and Collaboration

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

However, the representative does not possess the authority to legally require the ex-royal and Congress itself cannot force testimony from a foreign national.

In 2020, US agencies said that Mountbatten Windsor did not reply to US demands for an interview. The then US attorney for the southern district of New York said that lawyers and the FBI had approached Andrew’s attorneys to inquire on his public commitment that he was “ready to help any appropriate law enforcement agency”.

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

Appeals for Transparency

The congressman said in a announcement that “wealthy and well-connected men have escaped justice for far too long. Now, former Prince Andrew has the option to tell the truth and provide redress for the survivors. We will not halt pushing for responsibility and clarity for victims of Epstein and his network of accomplices.”

Another signatory, a Virginia Democrat, said that after receiving accounts to the committee from Epstein’s accusers, as well as public reporting of leaked documents, “it is crucial that Andrew cooperates with the active probe. If he is not guilty, then he can vindicate himself.”

The lawmaker continued: “And if not, our probe will show that, and the survivors will receive belated redress. The Royal Family’s actions removing Andrew of his styles show there is more to this case.”

The letter was issued on the same day the British king officially removed Mountbatten Windsor of his princely title. Charles III formally made the alteration – which had been revealed a week ago – by issuing a “royal decree” which the royal office made public in the Gazette, the UK’s public registry.