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A US congressional body investigating pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein has formally written to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, previously Britain’s Prince Andrew, asking that he participate in questioning as part of its investigation into Epstein’s illegal activities.

In a communication published on Thursday, a California congressman, the senior Democrat on the House oversight committee, asked that King Charles III’s brother cooperate with its investigation.

The official demand to respond to queries follows a week after Mountbatten Windsor was stripped of his HRH style and agreed to give up his property in Windsor.

Documents and Accusations

Mountbatten Windsor’s name features in papers and flight logs secured from Epstein’s estate and made public by the committee. He has also been alleged by one of Epstein’s victims, the late Virginia Giuffre, of misconduct.

“The panel will probe claims of abuse by Mountbatten Windsor, and will demand details on Epstein’s activities, associates, and associates based on the men’s long-term and thoroughly recorded friendship,” the committee said in a statement.

It demanded details from Mountbatten Windsor on specifics of his friendship with Epstein, who took his own life in a New York jail cell in 2019. Andrew has consistently strongly denied any impropriety.

Details of the Request

“It has been documented that your relationship with Mr Epstein commenced in 1999 and that you continued associating through and after his 2008 sentencing for soliciting minors for sex work,” the letter said.

It added: “It has also been alleged that you traveled with Epstein to his New York property, the Queen’s residence at Balmoral, and to Mr Epstein’s secluded island in the US Virgin Islands, where you have been charged of assaulting underage individuals. This strong bond with Mr Epstein, combined with the freshly uncovered 2011 digital communication in which you wrote to him ‘we are in this together’, further confirms our belief that you may have important details about the crimes committed by Mr Epstein and his accomplices.”

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

Past Remarks and Assistance

The letter arrives a week after another Democrat on the committee commented: “Andrew should be called to appear before the panel. The public deserves to know who was harming women and minors alongside Epstein.”

However, the representative does not hold the authority to legally require the ex-royal and Congress itself cannot compel evidence from a overseas individual.

In 2020, US agencies said that Mountbatten Windsor failed to reply to US appeals for an interview. The then US attorney for the southern district of New York said that lawyers and the FBI had approached Andrew’s attorneys to follow up on his previous pledge that he was “willing to help any suitable law enforcement agency”.

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

Calls for Transparency

The representative said in a comment that “wealthy and powerful men have escaped the law for far too long. Now, ex- Prince Andrew has the option to be honest and secure justice for the survivors. Oversight Democrats will not halt advocating for answerability and openness for those affected of Epstein and his gang of partners.”

Another endorser, a Virginia Democrat, said that after hearing testimony to the committee from Epstein’s victims, as well as media coverage of disclosed papers, “it is crucial that Andrew works together with the current inquiry. If he is not guilty, then he can vindicate himself.”

The lawmaker added: “And if not, our examination will demonstrate that, and the victims will receive belated justice. The monarchy’s actions taking away Andrew of his styles suggest there is additional to this case.”

The letter was issued on the same day the British king officially stripped Mountbatten Windsor of his royal title. Charles III formally made the change – which had been declared a week ago – by issuing a “letters patent” which the monarch’s office made public in the Gazette, the UK’s public registry.