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A US congressional committee investigating convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has reached out to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, previously Britain’s Prince Andrew, demanding that he undergo an interview as part of its probe into Epstein’s illegal activities.

In a letter made public on Thursday, a US representative, the senior Democrat on the House oversight panel, asked that King Charles III’s sibling help with its investigation.

The written appeal to respond to queries arrives a week after Mountbatten Windsor was relieved of his HRH style and agreed to surrender his property in Windsor.

Files and Claims

Mountbatten Windsor’s name appears in documents and aviation records secured from Epstein’s estate and publicly released by the committee. He has also been accused by one of Epstein’s accusers, the late Virginia Giuffre, of sexual assault.

“The oversight committee will investigate claims of misconduct by Mountbatten Windsor, and will request data on Epstein’s operations, network, and connections 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 association with Epstein, who died by suicide in a New York detention facility in 2019. Andrew has repeatedly vehemently rejected any wrongdoing.

Content of the Letter

“It has been widely reported that your relationship with Mr Epstein started in 1999 and that you stayed connected through and after his 2008 guilty verdict for soliciting minors for sex work,” the letter said.

It stated further: “It has also been alleged that you journeyed with Epstein to his New York property, 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, combined with the newly disclosed 2011 email exchange in which you wrote to him ‘we are in this together’, further supports our concern that you may have important details about the offenses committed by Mr Epstein and his co-conspirators.”

A announcement regarding the letter said it was co-signed by 13 other Democrats on the committee and asks a reply by 20 November.

Earlier Remarks and Assistance

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

However, the representative does not possess the ability to legally require the duke and Congress itself cannot force statements from a overseas individual.

In 2020, US agencies said that Mountbatten Windsor did not respond to US requests for an discussion. The then US attorney for the southern district of New York said that prosecutors and the FBI had contacted Andrew’s attorneys to follow up on his previous pledge that he was “willing to help any relevant law enforcement agency”.

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

Appeals for Justice

The congressman said in a announcement that “wealthy and powerful men have escaped accountability for far too long. Now, former Prince Andrew has the opportunity to tell the truth and deliver justice for the survivors. Oversight Democrats will not halt pushing for accountability and openness for survivors of Epstein and his group of partners.”

Another supporter, a Virginia Democrat, said that after hearing testimony to the committee from Epstein’s accusers, as well as public reporting of disclosed papers, “it is essential that Andrew cooperates with the current 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 survivors will receive much-delayed redress. The monarchy’s actions taking away Andrew of his styles indicate there is additional to this story.”

The letter was issued on the same day the British king publicly stripped Mountbatten Windsor of his princely title. Charles III officially made the alteration – which had been revealed a week ago – by issuing a “official document” which the monarch’s office released in the Gazette, the UK’s public registry.