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A US congressional panel investigating convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has formally written to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, once Britain’s Prince Andrew, asking that he participate in questioning as part of its investigation into Epstein’s wrongdoings.

In a communication released on Thursday, a lawmaker, the leading Democrat on the House oversight committee, asked that King Charles III’s sibling assist with its inquiry.

The written appeal to answer questions arrives a week after Mountbatten Windsor was stripped of his HRH style and agreed to surrender his property in Windsor.

Documents and Claims

Mountbatten Windsor’s name features in records and travel logs secured from Epstein’s estate and made public by the committee. He has also been accused by one of Epstein’s accusers, the late Virginia Giuffre, of abuse.

“The oversight committee will probe allegations of wrongdoing by Mountbatten Windsor, and will demand details on Epstein’s activities, circle, and associates based on the men’s long-term and well-documented friendship,” the committee said in a statement.

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

Content of the Request

“It has been documented that your friendship with Mr Epstein started in 1999 and that you remained close through and after his 2008 conviction for procuring minors for commercial sex acts,” the letter said.

It stated further: “It has also been alleged that you traveled with Epstein to his New York home, the Queen’s home at Balmoral, and to Mr Epstein’s secluded island in the US Virgin Islands, where you have been accused of abusing underage individuals. This strong bond with Mr Epstein, combined with the recently revealed 2011 email exchange in which you wrote to him ‘we are in this together’, further confirms our concern that you may have key insights about the offenses committed by Mr Epstein and his accomplices.”

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

Earlier Statements and Collaboration

The letter arrives a week after another Democrat on the committee commented: “Andrew should be asked to testify before the oversight committee. The people deserves to know who was harming women and underage individuals alongside Epstein.”

However, the representative does not possess the authority to compel the former prince and Congress itself cannot compel testimony from a non-US citizen.

In 2020, US agencies said that Mountbatten Windsor failed to respond to US appeals 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 lawyers to inquire on his previous pledge that he was “willing to help any appropriate 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”.

Appeals for Justice

The representative said in a comment that “wealthy and influential men have escaped the law for far too long. Now, ex- Prince Andrew has the option to be honest and secure accountability for the survivors. Oversight Democrats will not stop pushing for responsibility and clarity for survivors of Epstein and his network of co-conspirators.”

Another endorser, a Virginia Democrat, said that after hearing accounts to the committee from Epstein’s accusers, as well as media coverage of disclosed papers, “it is essential that Andrew works together with the current inquiry. If he is innocent, then he can clear his name.”

The lawmaker continued: “And if not, our investigation will reveal that, and the victims will receive belated accountability. The Royal Family’s actions stripping Andrew of his styles suggest there is further to this case.”

The letter was issued on the same day the British king publicly removed Mountbatten Windsor of his HRH style. Charles III officially made the alteration – which had been declared a week ago – by issuing a “letters patent” which the monarch’s office made public in the Gazette, the UK’s government journal.