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A US congressional panel looking into sex offender financier Jeffrey Epstein has formally written to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, previously Britain’s Prince Andrew, requesting that he submit to questioning as part of its probe into Epstein’s criminal operations.

In a document released on Thursday, a California congressman, the top Democrat on the House oversight committee, requested that King Charles III’s younger brother help with its probe.

The formal request to answer questions follows a week after Mountbatten Windsor was lost his HRH style and consented to surrender his leased home in Windsor.

Records and Claims

Mountbatten Windsor’s name is listed in documents and flight logs subpoenaed from Epstein’s estate and publicly released by the committee. He has also been alleged by one of Epstein’s victims, the late Virginia Giuffre, of misconduct.

“The oversight committee will probe claims of wrongdoing by Mountbatten Windsor, and will demand data on Epstein’s activities, associates, and connections based on the men’s enduring and extensively reported friendship,” the committee said in a announcement.

It requested details from Mountbatten Windsor on specifics of his relationship with Epstein, who killed himself in a New York detention facility in 2019. Andrew has always strongly denied any impropriety.

Details of the Letter

“It has been documented that your association with Mr Epstein commenced in 1999 and that you continued associating through and after his 2008 conviction for procuring minors for prostitution,” the letter said.

It stated further: “It has also been alleged that you went with Epstein to his New York home, the Queen’s home at Balmoral, and to Mr Epstein’s private island in the US Virgin Islands, where you have been alleged of abusing minors. 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 supports our suspicion that you may have valuable information about the wrongdoings committed by Mr Epstein and his co-conspirators.”

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

Previous Remarks and Collaboration

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

However, the representative does not have the ability to compel the duke and Congress itself cannot force testimony from a overseas individual.

In 2020, US authorities said that Mountbatten Windsor failed to respond to US demands for an meeting. 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 check on his public commitment 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 public commitment,” the attorney said, adding that to date he had “provided absolutely no cooperation”.

Demands for Justice

The representative said in a comment that “rich and influential men have escaped the law for far too long. Now, ex- Prince Andrew has the opportunity to be honest and provide redress for the affected individuals. We will not halt advocating for answerability and clarity for survivors of Epstein and his gang of accomplices.”

Another endorser, a Virginia Democrat, said that after listening to accounts to the committee from Epstein’s survivors, as well as media coverage of leaked documents, “it is crucial that Andrew cooperates with the ongoing inquiry. If he is blameless, then he can prove his innocence.”

The lawmaker continued: “And if not, our examination will demonstrate that, and the affected individuals will receive long overdue accountability. The Royal Family’s actions stripping Andrew of his honors indicate there is additional to this situation.”

The letter was issued on the same day the British king formally stripped Mountbatten Windsor of his HRH style. Charles III formally made the change – which had been revealed a week ago – by issuing a “royal decree” which the royal office released in the Gazette, the UK’s official public record.