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A American legislative committee looking into pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein has formally written to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, formerly Britain’s Prince Andrew, requesting that he undergo an interview as part of its inquiry into Epstein’s criminal operations.

In a communication released on Thursday, a US representative, the leading Democrat on the House oversight committee, urged that King Charles III’s sibling assist with its inquiry.

The official demand to respond to queries comes a week after Mountbatten Windsor was stripped of his HRH style and agreed to vacate his rented residence in Windsor.

Records and Allegations

Mountbatten Windsor’s name appears in papers and travel logs subpoenaed 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 abuse.

“The oversight committee will examine accusations of wrongdoing by Mountbatten Windsor, and will demand details on Epstein’s operations, circle, and connections based on the men’s enduring and well-documented friendship,” the committee said in a press release.

It requested details from Mountbatten Windsor on particulars of his relationship with Epstein, who died by suicide in a New York jail cell in 2019. Andrew has consistently vehemently rejected any impropriety.

Details of the Communication

“It has been documented that your friendship with Mr Epstein started in 1999 and that you stayed connected through and after his 2008 guilty verdict for trafficking underage girls for commercial sex acts,” the letter said.

It added: “It has also been alleged that you went with Epstein to his New York residence, the Queen’s home at Balmoral, and to Mr Epstein’s secluded island in the US Virgin Islands, where you have been charged of harming underage individuals. This intimate friendship with Mr Epstein, along with the recently revealed 2011 electronic correspondence in which you wrote to him ‘we are in this together’, further supports our concern that you may have key insights about the crimes committed by Mr Epstein and his co-conspirators.”

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

Earlier Statements and Cooperation

The letter comes a week after another Democrat on the committee commented: “Andrew should be asked to testify before the oversight committee. The people should be able to know who was assaulting women and minors alongside Epstein.”

However, the congressman does not have the ability to subpoena the former prince and Congress itself cannot compel evidence from a foreign national.

In 2020, US authorities said that Mountbatten Windsor neglected to reply to US requests for an meeting. The then US attorney for the southern district of New York said that lawyers and the FBI had approached Andrew’s lawyers to check on his previous pledge that he was “prepared to help any suitable law enforcement agency”.

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

Appeals for Accountability

The lawmaker said in a announcement that “wealthy and well-connected men have avoided the law for far too long. Now, one-time Prince Andrew has the chance to be honest and provide accountability for the survivors. The committee will not halt advocating for answerability and transparency for survivors of Epstein and his gang of partners.”

Another supporter, a Virginia Democrat, said that after listening to evidence to the committee from Epstein’s survivors, as well as media coverage of disclosed papers, “it is essential that Andrew cooperates with the active inquiry. If he is not guilty, then he can clear his name.”

The lawmaker added: “And if not, our investigation will demonstrate that, and the survivors will receive belated accountability. The monarchy’s actions removing Andrew of his styles indicate there is more to this case.”

The letter was sent on the same day the British king publicly stripped Mountbatten Windsor of his royal title. Charles III formally made the change – which had been declared a week ago – by issuing a “official document” which the monarch’s office released in the Gazette, the UK’s government journal.