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A US congressional panel looking into pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein has sent a letter to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, once Britain’s Prince Andrew, asking that he participate in questioning as part of its inquiry into Epstein’s illegal activities.

In a document released on Thursday, a US representative, the senior Democrat on the House investigative committee, requested that King Charles III’s younger brother assist with its inquiry.

The formal request to provide testimony comes a week after Mountbatten Windsor was lost his royal title and opted to surrender his property in Windsor.

Records and Claims

Mountbatten Windsor’s name is listed in documents and flight logs obtained from Epstein’s estate and publicly released by the committee. He has also been charged by one of Epstein’s survivors, the late Virginia Giuffre, of abuse.

“The oversight committee will probe accusations of abuse by Mountbatten Windsor, and will demand data on Epstein’s network, associates, and associates based on the men’s longstanding and extensively reported friendship,” the committee said in a press release.

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

Details of the Request

“It has been documented that your friendship with Mr Epstein started in 1999 and that you continued associating through and after his 2008 conviction for procuring minors for prostitution,” the letter said.

It added: “It has also been claimed that you journeyed with Epstein to his New York residence, the Queen’s estate at Balmoral, and to Mr Epstein’s personal island in the US Virgin Islands, where you have been alleged of harming underage individuals. This close relationship with Mr Epstein, combined with the freshly uncovered 2011 digital communication in which you wrote to him ‘we are in this together’, further supports our suspicion that you may have important details about the wrongdoings committed by Mr Epstein and his partners in crime.”

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

Past Statements and Assistance

The letter follows a week after another Democrat on the committee commented: “Andrew should be asked to give evidence before the oversight committee. The public deserves to know who was harming women and minors alongside Epstein.”

However, the congressman does not hold the authority to legally require the ex-royal and Congress itself cannot force statements from a foreign national.

In 2020, US officials said that Mountbatten Windsor failed to reply to US requests for an meeting. The then US attorney for the southern district of New York said that lawyers and the FBI had approached Andrew’s legal team to check on his earlier promise that he was “prepared to help any suitable law enforcement agency”.

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

Demands for Accountability

The representative said in a comment that “rich and well-connected men have avoided justice for far too long. Now, former Prince Andrew has the opportunity to tell the truth and deliver justice for the affected individuals. Oversight Democrats will not stop fighting for responsibility and openness for those affected of Epstein and his network of accomplices.”

Another signatory, a Virginia Democrat, said that after hearing evidence to the committee from Epstein’s victims, as well as news accounts of leaked documents, “it is crucial that Andrew works together with the current probe. If he is innocent, then he can vindicate himself.”

The lawmaker added: “And if not, our probe will reveal that, and the survivors will receive belated accountability. The royal household’s actions stripping Andrew of his titles indicate there is more to this case.”

The letter came on the same day the British king formally removed Mountbatten Windsor of his HRH style. Charles III publicly made the change – which had been declared a week ago – by issuing a “official document” which the monarch’s office made public in the Gazette, the UK’s government journal.