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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, demanding that he participate in an interview as part of its investigation into Epstein’s illegal activities.

In a letter released on Thursday, a US representative, the leading Democrat on the House investigative committee, asked that King Charles III’s younger brother help with its probe.

The written appeal to provide testimony follows a week after Mountbatten Windsor was lost his HRH style and agreed to give up his leased home in Windsor.

Records and Accusations

Mountbatten Windsor’s name is listed in documents and flight logs secured from Epstein’s estate and publicly released by the committee. He has also been charged by one of Epstein’s accusers, the late Virginia Giuffre, of sexual assault.

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

It sought particulars from Mountbatten Windsor on specifics of his relationship with Epstein, who took his own life in a New York jail cell in 2019. Andrew has always categorically denied any impropriety.

Content of the Communication

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

It added: “It has also been reported that you went with Epstein to his New York property, the Queen’s home at Balmoral, and to Mr Epstein’s personal island in the US Virgin Islands, where you have been charged of assaulting young girls. This intimate friendship with Mr Epstein, combined with the freshly uncovered 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 wrongdoings committed by Mr Epstein and his partners in crime.”

A notification regarding the letter said it was endorsed by 13 other Democrats on the committee and asks a response by 20 November.

Earlier Comments and Collaboration

The letter arrives a week after another Democrat on the committee told: “Andrew should be called to give evidence before the panel. The people should be able to know who was harming women and underage individuals alongside Epstein.”

However, the representative does not hold the power to legally require the duke and Congress itself cannot force statements from a foreign national.

In 2020, US agencies said that Mountbatten Windsor did not respond to US requests for an discussion. The then US attorney for the southern district of New York said that prosecutors and the FBI had contacted Andrew’s lawyers to check on his earlier promise that he was “prepared to help any suitable law enforcement agency”.

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

Demands for Justice

The lawmaker said in a announcement that “wealthy and powerful men have escaped the law for far too long. Now, ex- Prince Andrew has the opportunity to tell the truth and deliver redress for the survivors. Oversight Democrats will not halt fighting for responsibility and clarity for those affected of Epstein and his group of co-conspirators.”

Another supporter, a Virginia Democrat, said that after listening to evidence to the committee from Epstein’s victims, as well as news accounts of released files, “it is crucial that Andrew works together with the active inquiry. If he is blameless, then he can prove his innocence.”

The lawmaker stated further: “And if not, our examination will demonstrate that, and the victims will receive long overdue accountability. The Royal Family’s actions stripping Andrew of his titles show there is additional to this case.”

The letter came on the same day the British king publicly stripped Mountbatten Windsor of his HRH style. Charles III publicly made the adjustment – which had been announced a week ago – by issuing a “official document” which the royal office made public in the Gazette, the UK’s official public record.