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A American legislative committee looking into sex offender financier Jeffrey Epstein has sent a letter to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, previously Britain’s Prince Andrew, demanding that he undergo an interview as part of its inquiry into Epstein’s criminal operations.

In a communication published on Thursday, a US representative, the leading Democrat on the House investigative committee, asked that King Charles III’s sibling help with its probe.

The formal request to respond to queries comes a week after Mountbatten Windsor was relieved of his princely title and consented to surrender his rented residence in Windsor.

Records and Claims

Mountbatten Windsor’s name is listed in records and travel logs subpoenaed from Epstein’s estate and publicly released by the committee. He has also been alleged by one of Epstein’s victims, the late Virginia Giuffre, of sexual assault.

“The committee will probe claims of misconduct by Mountbatten Windsor, and will seek details on Epstein’s operations, associates, and associates based on the men’s enduring and well-documented friendship,” the committee said in a press release.

It demanded details from Mountbatten Windsor on specifics of his friendship with Epstein, who took his own life in a New York detention facility in 2019. Andrew has always categorically denied any wrongdoing.

Details of the Letter

“It has been publicly reported that your friendship with Mr Epstein began in 1999 and that you continued associating through and after his 2008 conviction for soliciting minors for prostitution,” the letter said.

It added: “It has also been claimed that you journeyed with Epstein to his New York residence, the Queen’s residence at Balmoral, and to Mr Epstein’s private island in the US Virgin Islands, where you have been alleged of assaulting minors. This close relationship with Mr Epstein, combined with the recently revealed 2011 email exchange in which you wrote to him ‘we are in this together’, further bolsters our suspicion that you may have important details about the wrongdoings committed by Mr Epstein and his partners in crime.”

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

Earlier Statements and Assistance

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

However, the congressman does not possess the ability to legally require the former prince and Congress itself cannot compel statements from a foreign national.

In 2020, US authorities said that Mountbatten Windsor neglected to cooperate to US demands for an interview. The then US attorney for the southern district of New York said that authorities and the FBI had approached Andrew’s legal team to check on his previous pledge that he was “prepared to help any appropriate law enforcement agency”.

“It’s reasonable for people to know whether Prince Andrew has fulfilled with that public commitment,” the attorney said, adding that to date he had “offered no cooperation”.

Demands for Justice

The lawmaker said in a statement that “wealthy and well-connected men have evaded the law for far too long. Now, former Prince Andrew has the option to come clean and secure redress for the survivors. Oversight Democrats will not stop fighting for responsibility and transparency for survivors of Epstein and his gang of partners.”

Another endorser, a Virginia Democrat, said that after receiving accounts to the committee from Epstein’s accusers, as well as media coverage of released files, “it is crucial that Andrew works together with the current probe. If he is blameless, then he can prove his innocence.”

The lawmaker stated further: “And if not, our investigation will demonstrate that, and the survivors will receive much-delayed redress. The monarchy’s actions stripping Andrew of his titles indicate there is additional to this situation.”

The letter came on the same day the British king formally removed Mountbatten Windsor of his royal title. Charles III officially made the change – which had been revealed a week ago – by issuing a “letters patent” which the royal office released in the Gazette, the UK’s official public record.