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A US congressional panel probing pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein has sent a letter to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, formerly Britain’s Prince Andrew, demanding that he submit to questioning as part of its investigation into Epstein’s criminal operations.

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

The official demand to answer questions arrives a week after Mountbatten Windsor was relieved of his HRH style and agreed to vacate his leased home in Windsor.

Documents and Accusations

Mountbatten Windsor’s name appears in papers and travel logs secured from Epstein’s estate and disclosed by the committee. He has also been charged by one of Epstein’s accusers, the late Virginia Giuffre, of sexual assault.

“The oversight committee will probe allegations of wrongdoing by Mountbatten Windsor, and will request data on Epstein’s activities, network, and accomplices based on the men’s long-term and thoroughly recorded friendship,” the committee said in a announcement.

It demanded information from Mountbatten Windsor on particulars of his friendship with Epstein, who killed himself in a New York jail cell in 2019. Andrew has always categorically denied any impropriety.

Content of the Letter

“It has been documented that your association with Mr Epstein commenced in 1999 and that you stayed connected through and after his 2008 sentencing for trafficking underage girls for commercial sex acts,” the letter said.

It stated further: “It has also been reported that you traveled with Epstein to his New York property, the Queen’s residence 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, combined with the freshly uncovered 2011 email exchange in which you wrote to him ‘we are in this together’, further bolsters our concern that you may have valuable information about the offenses committed by Mr Epstein and his partners in crime.”

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

Earlier Remarks and Collaboration

The letter arrives a week after another Democrat on the committee told: “Andrew should be called to appear before the panel. The public deserves to know who was abusing women and young girls alongside Epstein.”

However, the lawmaker does not hold the authority to compel the duke and Congress itself cannot oblige testimony from a non-US citizen.

In 2020, US officials said that Mountbatten Windsor did not cooperate to US demands for an interview. The then US attorney for the southern district of New York said that lawyers and the FBI had contacted Andrew’s lawyers to inquire on his earlier promise that he was “prepared to help any suitable law enforcement agency”.

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

Calls for Justice

The congressman said in a comment that “affluent and influential men have avoided justice for far too long. Now, former Prince Andrew has the opportunity to be honest and secure redress for the victims. The committee will not cease pushing for responsibility and openness for those affected of Epstein and his group of partners.”

Another signatory, a Virginia Democrat, said that after hearing accounts to the committee from Epstein’s victims, as well as news accounts of released files, “it is crucial that Andrew cooperates with the current probe. If he is not guilty, then he can clear his name.”

The lawmaker continued: “And if not, our investigation will show that, and the affected individuals will receive much-delayed redress. The royal household’s actions taking away Andrew of his styles indicate there is additional to this situation.”

The letter was sent on the same day the British king publicly removed Mountbatten Windsor of his royal title. Charles III formally made the adjustment – which had been declared a week ago – by issuing a “letters patent” which the royal office published in the Gazette, the UK’s public registry.