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A American legislative committee investigating convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has sent a letter to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, once Britain’s Prince Andrew, requesting that he submit to questioning as part of its inquiry into Epstein’s wrongdoings.

In a document released on Thursday, a lawmaker, the senior Democrat on the House oversight committee, asked that King Charles III’s sibling cooperate with its probe.

The official demand to answer questions follows a week after Mountbatten Windsor was stripped of his princely title and consented to vacate his rented residence in Windsor.

Documents and Allegations

Mountbatten Windsor’s name is listed in documents and flight logs 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 sexual assault.

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

It sought details from Mountbatten Windsor on details of his relationship with Epstein, who died by suicide in a New York detention facility in 2019. Andrew has consistently vehemently rejected any wrongdoing.

Details of the Communication

“It has been documented 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 stated further: “It has also been claimed that you journeyed 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 intimate friendship with Mr Epstein, along with the newly disclosed 2011 electronic correspondence in which you wrote to him ‘we are in this together’, further bolsters our concern that you may have valuable information about the wrongdoings committed by Mr Epstein and his partners in crime.”

A notification regarding the letter said it was co-signed by 13 other Democrats on the committee and requests a response by 20 November.

Past Remarks and Cooperation

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

However, the representative does not have the ability to legally require the former prince and Congress itself cannot oblige evidence from a non-US citizen.

In 2020, US agencies said that Mountbatten Windsor failed to respond to US demands for an discussion. The then US attorney for the southern district of New York said that lawyers and the FBI had approached Andrew’s lawyers to inquire on his public commitment that he was “ready to help any suitable law enforcement agency”.

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

Calls for Justice

The representative said in a statement that “affluent and powerful men have evaded the law for far too long. Now, one-time Prince Andrew has the option to tell the truth and deliver redress for the victims. We will not stop fighting for responsibility and clarity for those affected of Epstein and his gang of accomplices.”

Another supporter, a Virginia Democrat, said that after receiving testimony to the committee from Epstein’s survivors, as well as public reporting of released files, “it is essential that Andrew assists with the current probe. If he is blameless, then he can clear his name.”

The lawmaker continued: “And if not, our probe will reveal that, and the survivors will receive long overdue redress. The royal household’s actions stripping Andrew of his titles suggest there is additional to this story.”

The letter was issued on the same day the British king publicly stripped Mountbatten Windsor of his princely title. Charles III publicly made the alteration – which had been declared a week ago – by issuing a “letters patent” which the crown office published in the Gazette, the UK’s government journal.