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

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

The formal request to respond to queries follows a week after Mountbatten Windsor was lost his HRH style and agreed to give up his property in Windsor.

Documents and Accusations

Mountbatten Windsor’s name is listed in records and flight logs subpoenaed from Epstein’s estate and made public by the committee. He has also been accused by one of Epstein’s survivors, the late Virginia Giuffre, of abuse.

“The committee will probe allegations of wrongdoing by Mountbatten Windsor, and will seek information on Epstein’s activities, circle, and accomplices based on the men’s long-term and thoroughly recorded friendship,” the committee said in a announcement.

It sought details from Mountbatten Windsor on particulars of his friendship with Epstein, who took his own life in a New York jail cell in 2019. Andrew has repeatedly strongly denied any wrongdoing.

Substance of the Letter

“It has been publicly reported that your association with Mr Epstein commenced in 1999 and that you continued associating through and after his 2008 guilty verdict for soliciting minors for sex work,” the letter said.

It added: “It has also been reported that you went with Epstein to his New York residence, the Queen’s estate at Balmoral, and to Mr Epstein’s private island in the US Virgin Islands, where you have been accused of harming young girls. This close relationship with Mr Epstein, coupled with the newly disclosed 2011 email exchange in which you wrote to him ‘we are in this together’, further bolsters our suspicion that you may have key insights about the offenses committed by Mr Epstein and his co-conspirators.”

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

Earlier Statements and Cooperation

The letter arrives a week after another Democrat on the committee stated: “Andrew should be called to testify before the oversight committee. The citizens has the right to know who was harming women and underage individuals alongside Epstein.”

However, the congressman does not have the power to legally require the former prince and Congress itself cannot compel evidence from a overseas individual.

In 2020, US agencies said that Mountbatten Windsor neglected to cooperate to US appeals for an meeting. The then US attorney for the southern district of New York said that authorities and the FBI had approached Andrew’s legal team to follow up on his previous pledge that he was “ready to help any suitable law enforcement agency”.

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

Demands for Accountability

The lawmaker said in a statement that “affluent and influential men have escaped accountability for far too long. Now, ex- Prince Andrew has the chance to come clean and secure redress for the victims. Oversight Democrats will not halt pushing for responsibility and clarity for victims of Epstein and his gang of co-conspirators.”

Another endorser, a Virginia Democrat, said that after receiving accounts to the committee from Epstein’s victims, as well as public reporting of leaked documents, “it is crucial that Andrew cooperates with the current investigation. If he is blameless, then he can clear his name.”

The lawmaker continued: “And if not, our probe will reveal that, and the affected individuals will receive much-delayed redress. The monarchy’s actions removing Andrew of his styles suggest there is more to this story.”

The letter was sent on the same day the British king formally stripped Mountbatten Windsor of his royal title. Charles III officially made the alteration – which had been announced a week ago – by issuing a “royal decree” which the crown office released in the Gazette, the UK’s official public record.