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A US congressional body looking into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has formally written to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, previously Britain’s Prince Andrew, asking that he participate in questioning as part of its inquiry into Epstein’s wrongdoings.

In a communication made public on Thursday, a lawmaker, the top Democrat on the House oversight committee, urged that King Charles III’s sibling assist with its investigation.

The formal request to provide testimony arrives a week after Mountbatten Windsor was stripped of his HRH style and consented to vacate his leased home in Windsor.

Files and Claims

Mountbatten Windsor’s name appears in records and aviation records obtained from Epstein’s estate and disclosed by the committee. He has also been alleged by one of Epstein’s survivors, the late Virginia Giuffre, of misconduct.

“The panel will investigate accusations of misconduct by Mountbatten Windsor, and will demand information on Epstein’s activities, network, and accomplices based on the men’s enduring and thoroughly recorded friendship,” the committee said in a press release.

It requested details from Mountbatten Windsor on specifics of his friendship with Epstein, who died by suicide in a New York prison cell in 2019. Andrew has always strongly denied any wrongdoing.

Details of the Communication

“It has been publicly reported that your friendship with Mr Epstein started in 1999 and that you remained close through and after his 2008 conviction for procuring minors for prostitution,” the letter said.

It continued: “It has also been claimed that you went with Epstein to his New York home, the Queen’s home at Balmoral, and to Mr Epstein’s secluded island in the US Virgin Islands, where you have been alleged of harming young girls. This strong bond with Mr Epstein, combined with the newly disclosed 2011 email exchange in which you wrote to him ‘we are in this together’, further confirms our suspicion that you may have key insights about the offenses committed by Mr Epstein and his co-conspirators.”

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

Past Statements and Cooperation

The letter follows a week after another Democrat on the committee commented: “Andrew should be asked to give evidence before the committee. The public has the right to know who was abusing women and young girls alongside Epstein.”

However, the lawmaker does not possess the power to subpoena the duke and Congress itself cannot force statements from a non-US citizen.

In 2020, US agencies said that Mountbatten Windsor neglected to respond to US requests for an interview. The then US attorney for the southern district of New York said that lawyers and the FBI had reached out to Andrew’s legal team to inquire on his earlier promise that he was “ready to help any appropriate 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 Justice

The lawmaker said in a announcement that “affluent and well-connected men have escaped the law for far too long. Now, former Prince Andrew has the option to be honest and deliver redress for the survivors. Oversight Democrats will not cease pushing for responsibility and clarity for victims of Epstein and his gang of accomplices.”

Another endorser, a Virginia Democrat, said that after hearing accounts to the committee from Epstein’s victims, as well as media coverage of leaked documents, “it is essential that Andrew assists with the active inquiry. If he is not guilty, then he can prove his innocence.”

The lawmaker stated further: “And if not, our investigation will demonstrate that, and the survivors will receive long overdue accountability. The monarchy’s actions taking away Andrew of his styles suggest there is additional to this story.”

The letter was sent on the same day the British king publicly removed Mountbatten Windsor of his HRH style. Charles III officially made the alteration – which had been revealed a week ago – by issuing a “official document” which the crown office released in the Gazette, the UK’s official public record.