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A US congressional committee probing sex offender financier Jeffrey Epstein has reached out to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, once Britain’s Prince Andrew, demanding that he undergo questioning as part of its probe into Epstein’s wrongdoings.

In a communication released on Thursday, a US representative, the senior Democrat on the House investigative committee, asked that King Charles III’s younger brother cooperate with its probe.

The formal request to answer questions follows a week after Mountbatten Windsor was relieved of his HRH style and agreed to give up his leased home in Windsor.

Records and Claims

Mountbatten Windsor’s name features in papers and flight logs subpoenaed from Epstein’s estate and made public by the committee. He has also been charged by one of Epstein’s victims, the late Virginia Giuffre, of sexual assault.

“The oversight committee will probe allegations of misconduct by Mountbatten Windsor, and will request information on Epstein’s network, associates, and associates based on the men’s enduring and extensively reported friendship,” the committee said in a press release.

It demanded particulars from Mountbatten Windsor on details of his relationship with Epstein, who took his own life in a New York jail cell in 2019. Andrew has repeatedly categorically denied any impropriety.

Substance of the Letter

“It has been widely reported 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 continued: “It has also been alleged that you journeyed with Epstein to his New York residence, the Queen’s home at Balmoral, and to Mr Epstein’s secluded island in the US Virgin Islands, where you have been alleged of abusing underage individuals. This strong bond with Mr Epstein, along with the newly disclosed 2011 digital communication 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 partners in crime.”

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

Earlier Statements and Assistance

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

However, the lawmaker does not have the power to legally require the ex-royal and Congress itself cannot oblige testimony from a foreign national.

In 2020, US agencies said that Mountbatten Windsor did not cooperate to US appeals for an discussion. The then US attorney for the southern district of New York said that prosecutors and the FBI had contacted Andrew’s legal team to check on his public commitment 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 “given absolutely no cooperation”.

Calls for Accountability

The congressman said in a announcement that “affluent and powerful men have evaded the law for far too long. Now, former Prince Andrew has the chance to come clean and deliver justice for the victims. We will not cease advocating for accountability and transparency for those affected of Epstein and his gang of partners.”

Another signatory, a Virginia Democrat, said that after listening to evidence to the committee from Epstein’s survivors, as well as media coverage of released files, “it is vital that Andrew assists with the current inquiry. If he is blameless, then he can vindicate himself.”

The lawmaker added: “And if not, our probe will demonstrate that, and the survivors will receive belated justice. The Royal Family’s actions removing Andrew of his styles show there is more to this story.”

The letter was sent on the same day the British king formally stripped Mountbatten Windsor of his princely title. Charles III formally made the change – which had been revealed a week ago – by issuing a “royal decree” which the monarch’s office released in the Gazette, the UK’s public registry.