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A US congressional committee investigating sex offender financier Jeffrey Epstein has formally written to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, once Britain’s Prince Andrew, requesting that he participate in questioning as part of its probe into Epstein’s illegal activities.

In a communication published on Thursday, a US representative, the top Democrat on the House investigative committee, urged that King Charles III’s sibling assist with its investigation.

The official demand to provide testimony arrives a week after Mountbatten Windsor was relieved of his HRH style and consented to vacate his leased home in Windsor.

Documents and Allegations

Mountbatten Windsor’s name is listed in documents and aviation records obtained from Epstein’s estate and made public by the committee. He has also been charged by one of Epstein’s survivors, the late Virginia Giuffre, of sexual assault.

“The committee will probe accusations of abuse by Mountbatten Windsor, and will seek data on Epstein’s network, network, and accomplices based on the men’s enduring and extensively reported friendship,” the committee said in a press release.

It demanded information from Mountbatten Windsor on specifics of his association with Epstein, who died by suicide in a New York detention facility in 2019. Andrew has consistently categorically denied any misconduct.

Content of the Communication

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

It added: “It has also been alleged that you journeyed with Epstein to his New York property, the Queen’s residence at Balmoral, and to Mr Epstein’s personal island in the US Virgin Islands, where you have been accused of harming minors. This intimate friendship with Mr Epstein, combined with the newly disclosed 2011 email exchange in which you wrote to him ‘we are in this together’, further bolsters our belief that you may have important details about the crimes 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 asks a reply by 20 November.

Previous Comments and Assistance

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

However, the representative does not have the power to subpoena the duke and Congress itself cannot force evidence from a non-US citizen.

In 2020, US authorities said that Mountbatten Windsor failed to cooperate to US appeals for an discussion. The then US attorney for the southern district of New York said that lawyers and the FBI had contacted Andrew’s attorneys to check on his previous pledge that he was “prepared to help any relevant law enforcement agency”.

“It’s just for people to know whether Prince Andrew has honored with that assurance,” the attorney said, adding that to date he had “provided zero cooperation”.

Demands for Justice

The representative said in a comment 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 accountability for the affected individuals. The committee will not halt advocating for accountability and clarity for survivors of Epstein and his gang of co-conspirators.”

Another signatory, a Virginia Democrat, said that after listening to accounts to the committee from Epstein’s survivors, as well as public reporting of released files, “it is essential that Andrew cooperates with the active inquiry. If he is blameless, then he can vindicate himself.”

The lawmaker stated further: “And if not, our investigation will demonstrate that, and the victims will receive belated redress. The monarchy’s actions stripping Andrew of his styles show there is additional to this story.”

The letter came on the same day the British king formally removed Mountbatten Windsor of his HRH style. Charles III publicly made the adjustment – which had been revealed a week ago – by issuing a “royal decree” which the crown office made public in the Gazette, the UK’s government journal.