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A US congressional panel probing convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has sent a letter to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, once Britain’s Prince Andrew, asking that he undergo questioning as part of its investigation into Epstein’s illegal activities.

In a communication published on Thursday, a lawmaker, the senior Democrat on the House oversight panel, urged that King Charles III’s sibling assist with its investigation.

The formal request to respond to queries comes a week after Mountbatten Windsor was stripped of his royal title and agreed to vacate his leased home in Windsor.

Documents and Claims

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 alleged by one of Epstein’s survivors, the late Virginia Giuffre, of sexual assault.

“The panel will examine claims of wrongdoing by Mountbatten Windsor, and will request data on Epstein’s activities, network, and accomplices based on the men’s longstanding and well-documented friendship,” the committee said in a announcement.

It requested information from Mountbatten Windsor on particulars of his friendship with Epstein, who took his own life in a New York detention facility in 2019. Andrew has repeatedly vehemently rejected any impropriety.

Details of the Communication

“It has been widely reported that your association with Mr Epstein began in 1999 and that you continued associating through and after his 2008 sentencing for procuring minors for sex work,” the letter said.

It continued: “It has also been claimed that you journeyed with Epstein to his New York home, the Queen’s home at Balmoral, and to Mr Epstein’s personal island in the US Virgin Islands, where you have been charged of harming young girls. This intimate friendship with Mr Epstein, coupled with the recently revealed 2011 electronic correspondence in which you wrote to him ‘we are in this together’, further confirms our concern that you may have key insights about the wrongdoings committed by Mr Epstein and his partners in crime.”

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

Earlier Comments and Cooperation

The letter follows a week after another Democrat on the committee told: “Andrew should be asked to testify before the oversight committee. The people deserves to know who was abusing women and young girls alongside Epstein.”

However, the lawmaker does not possess the authority to subpoena the duke and Congress itself cannot force testimony from a non-US citizen.

In 2020, US officials said that Mountbatten Windsor neglected to reply to US appeals for an discussion. The then US attorney for the southern district of New York said that prosecutors and the FBI had reached out to Andrew’s legal team to follow up on his public commitment that he was “ready to help any suitable law enforcement agency”.

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

Demands for Justice

The representative said in a comment that “wealthy and influential men have evaded justice for far too long. Now, one-time Prince Andrew has the option to come clean and provide redress for the victims. The committee will not stop advocating for answerability and openness for survivors of Epstein and his gang of co-conspirators.”

Another signatory, a Virginia Democrat, said that after hearing evidence to the committee from Epstein’s survivors, as well as news accounts of disclosed papers, “it is vital that Andrew assists with the ongoing investigation. If he is innocent, then he can vindicate himself.”

The lawmaker added: “And if not, our probe will show that, and the affected individuals will receive long overdue redress. The royal household’s actions removing Andrew of his honors indicate there is additional to this situation.”

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