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A US congressional panel looking into sex offender financier Jeffrey Epstein has sent a letter to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, formerly Britain’s Prince Andrew, asking that he undergo an interview as part of its inquiry into Epstein’s illegal activities.

In a document made public on Thursday, a US representative, the leading Democrat on the House investigative committee, asked that King Charles III’s younger brother help with its inquiry.

The formal request to answer questions follows a week after Mountbatten Windsor was lost his royal title and consented to surrender his rented residence in Windsor.

Records and Accusations

Mountbatten Windsor’s name appears in records and aviation records subpoenaed from Epstein’s estate and made public by the committee. He has also been charged by one of Epstein’s victims, the late Virginia Giuffre, of abuse.

“The oversight committee will investigate allegations of wrongdoing by Mountbatten Windsor, and will seek data on Epstein’s activities, associates, and accomplices based on the men’s long-term and extensively reported friendship,” the committee said in a announcement.

It requested information from Mountbatten Windsor on particulars of his friendship with Epstein, who took his own life in a New York detention facility in 2019. Andrew has always strongly denied any wrongdoing.

Substance of the Letter

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

It continued: “It has also been alleged that you went with Epstein to his New York home, the Queen’s estate at Balmoral, and to Mr Epstein’s personal island in the US Virgin Islands, where you have been alleged of assaulting young girls. This strong bond with Mr Epstein, coupled with the recently revealed 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 crimes committed by Mr Epstein and his partners in crime.”

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 Statements and Cooperation

The letter arrives a week after another Democrat on the committee commented: “Andrew should be summoned to give evidence before the panel. The citizens deserves to know who was assaulting women and underage individuals alongside Epstein.”

However, the lawmaker does not possess the ability to compel the ex-royal and Congress itself cannot oblige testimony from a overseas individual.

In 2020, US officials said that Mountbatten Windsor failed to cooperate to US requests for an interview. The then US attorney for the southern district of New York said that lawyers and the FBI had approached Andrew’s legal team to follow up on his previous pledge that he was “prepared to help any appropriate 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 “offered no cooperation”.

Demands for Justice

The lawmaker said in a announcement that “rich and influential men have avoided justice for far too long. Now, former Prince Andrew has the option to come clean and secure justice for the victims. Oversight Democrats will not halt advocating for responsibility and clarity for survivors of Epstein and his gang of partners.”

Another endorser, a Virginia Democrat, said that after hearing accounts to the committee from Epstein’s accusers, as well as news accounts of disclosed papers, “it is vital that Andrew cooperates with the active inquiry. If he is innocent, then he can prove his innocence.”

The lawmaker stated further: “And if not, our probe will demonstrate that, and the victims will receive belated justice. The monarchy’s actions removing Andrew of his titles show there is further to this situation.”

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