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A US congressional body probing sex offender financier Jeffrey Epstein has sent a letter to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, formerly Britain’s Prince Andrew, demanding that he undergo an interview as part of its inquiry into Epstein’s illegal activities.

In a document published on Thursday, a US representative, the leading Democrat on the House oversight panel, requested that King Charles III’s sibling cooperate with its probe.

The official demand to answer questions arrives a week after Mountbatten Windsor was lost his HRH style and agreed to surrender his property in Windsor.

Records and Allegations

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

“The oversight committee will examine allegations of abuse by Mountbatten Windsor, and will demand data on Epstein’s activities, associates, and connections based on the men’s longstanding and extensively reported friendship,” the committee said in a announcement.

It sought information from Mountbatten Windsor on details of his friendship with Epstein, who died by suicide in a New York jail cell in 2019. Andrew has always categorically denied any wrongdoing.

Content of the Request

“It has been publicly reported that your relationship with Mr Epstein started in 1999 and that you stayed connected through and after his 2008 sentencing for soliciting minors for prostitution,” the letter said.

It stated further: “It has also been reported that you went with Epstein to his New York home, the Queen’s home at Balmoral, and to Mr Epstein’s personal island in the US Virgin Islands, where you have been accused of assaulting young girls. This strong bond with Mr Epstein, along with the newly disclosed 2011 electronic correspondence in which you wrote to him ‘we are in this together’, further confirms our belief that you may have key insights about the wrongdoings committed by Mr Epstein and his accomplices.”

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

Past Statements and Assistance

The letter comes a week after another Democrat on the committee told: “Andrew should be called to give evidence before the oversight committee. The citizens deserves to know who was harming women and young girls alongside Epstein.”

However, the lawmaker does not possess the ability to subpoena the ex-royal and Congress itself cannot compel testimony from a foreign national.

In 2020, US agencies said that Mountbatten Windsor neglected to reply to US requests for an meeting. The then US attorney for the southern district of New York said that prosecutors and the FBI had reached out to Andrew’s lawyers to inquire on his public commitment that he was “ready to help any relevant law enforcement agency”.

“It’s fair for people to know whether Prince Andrew has fulfilled with that assurance,” the attorney said, adding that to date he had “offered zero cooperation”.

Appeals for Accountability

The representative said in a comment that “rich and powerful men have evaded justice for far too long. Now, former Prince Andrew has the option to come clean and provide justice for the affected individuals. Oversight Democrats will not cease fighting for accountability and openness for survivors of Epstein and his group of co-conspirators.”

Another signatory, a Virginia Democrat, said that after listening to testimony to the committee from Epstein’s victims, as well as public reporting of leaked documents, “it is crucial that Andrew cooperates with the current inquiry. If he is blameless, then he can prove his innocence.”

The lawmaker continued: “And if not, our examination will show that, and the victims will receive much-delayed justice. The royal household’s actions stripping Andrew of his honors indicate there is further to this situation.”

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