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A US congressional committee looking into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has sent a letter to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, once Britain’s Prince Andrew, requesting that he participate in an interview as part of its probe into Epstein’s criminal operations.

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

The written appeal to provide testimony comes a week after Mountbatten Windsor was lost his HRH style and consented to surrender his property in Windsor.

Records and Claims

Mountbatten Windsor’s name features in records and flight logs obtained from Epstein’s estate and disclosed by the committee. He has also been charged by one of Epstein’s survivors, the late Virginia Giuffre, of misconduct.

“The panel will examine allegations of wrongdoing by Mountbatten Windsor, and will seek details on Epstein’s network, associates, and connections based on the men’s long-term and thoroughly recorded friendship,” the committee said in a statement.

It requested particulars from Mountbatten Windsor on specifics of his association with Epstein, who took his own life in a New York jail cell in 2019. Andrew has consistently vehemently rejected any impropriety.

Content of the Request

“It has been widely reported that your friendship with Mr Epstein commenced in 1999 and that you stayed connected through and after his 2008 guilty verdict for trafficking underage girls for prostitution,” the letter said.

It stated further: “It has also been reported that you traveled with Epstein to his New York residence, the Queen’s residence at Balmoral, and to Mr Epstein’s secluded island in the US Virgin Islands, where you have been charged of abusing young girls. This intimate friendship with Mr Epstein, coupled with the freshly uncovered 2011 digital communication in which you wrote to him ‘we are in this together’, further bolsters our belief that you may have key insights about the crimes committed by Mr Epstein and his accomplices.”

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

Past Remarks and Collaboration

The letter follows a week after another Democrat on the committee stated: “Andrew should be summoned to testify before the committee. The public deserves to know who was assaulting women and underage individuals alongside Epstein.”

However, the representative does not possess the power to legally require the ex-royal and Congress itself cannot oblige evidence from a foreign national.

In 2020, US authorities said that Mountbatten Windsor failed to cooperate to US demands for an meeting. The then US attorney for the southern district of New York said that lawyers and the FBI had reached out to Andrew’s attorneys to follow up on his public commitment that he was “prepared to help any suitable law enforcement agency”.

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

Calls for Accountability

The lawmaker said in a announcement that “affluent and powerful men have avoided the law for far too long. Now, ex- Prince Andrew has the opportunity to come clean and provide justice for the survivors. The committee will not cease pushing for accountability and openness for those affected of Epstein and his group of accomplices.”

Another signatory, a Virginia Democrat, said that after listening to evidence to the committee from Epstein’s victims, as well as news accounts of leaked documents, “it is crucial that Andrew cooperates with the ongoing probe. If he is not guilty, then he can prove his innocence.”

The lawmaker added: “And if not, our probe will reveal that, and the survivors will receive belated redress. The monarchy’s actions taking away Andrew of his titles show there is more to this situation.”

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