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A US congressional panel investigating convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has sent a letter to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, formerly Britain’s Prince Andrew, requesting that he participate in questioning as part of its investigation into Epstein’s criminal operations.

In a communication made public on Thursday, a lawmaker, the senior Democrat on the House oversight panel, asked that King Charles III’s younger brother cooperate with its probe.

The formal request to provide testimony comes a week after Mountbatten Windsor was stripped of his princely title and opted to vacate his property in Windsor.

Files and Allegations

Mountbatten Windsor’s name appears in documents and travel logs obtained from Epstein’s estate and made public 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 claims of wrongdoing by Mountbatten Windsor, and will request details on Epstein’s network, network, and connections based on the men’s long-term and well-documented friendship,” the committee said in a announcement.

It requested information from Mountbatten Windsor on specifics of his association with Epstein, who took his own life in a New York jail cell in 2019. Andrew has always strongly denied any impropriety.

Content of the Letter

“It has been publicly reported that your relationship with Mr Epstein commenced in 1999 and that you stayed connected through and after his 2008 sentencing for soliciting minors for commercial sex acts,” the letter said.

It continued: “It has also been claimed that you traveled with Epstein to his New York home, the Queen’s residence at Balmoral, and to Mr Epstein’s secluded island in the US Virgin Islands, where you have been accused of abusing young girls. 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 confirms our suspicion that you may have key insights about the wrongdoings committed by Mr Epstein and his co-conspirators.”

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

Earlier Remarks and Collaboration

The letter comes a week after another Democrat on the committee commented: “Andrew should be summoned to appear before the committee. The people has the right to know who was harming women and minors alongside Epstein.”

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

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

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

Calls for Justice

The lawmaker said in a statement that “affluent and powerful men have evaded the law for far too long. Now, former Prince Andrew has the chance to be honest and deliver redress for the victims. The committee will not cease pushing for accountability and transparency for survivors of Epstein and his gang of partners.”

Another supporter, a Virginia Democrat, said that after hearing testimony to the committee from Epstein’s victims, as well as public reporting of leaked documents, “it is vital that Andrew assists with the current inquiry. If he is not guilty, then he can vindicate himself.”

The lawmaker continued: “And if not, our examination will demonstrate that, and the affected individuals will receive much-delayed justice. The royal household’s actions removing Andrew of his styles show there is further to this situation.”

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