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A US congressional panel looking into sex offender financier Jeffrey Epstein has formally written to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, once Britain’s Prince Andrew, demanding that he submit to questioning as part of its investigation into Epstein’s illegal activities.

In a document released on Thursday, a US representative, the leading Democrat on the House oversight panel, requested that King Charles III’s sibling cooperate with its probe.

The official demand to provide testimony follows a week after Mountbatten Windsor was stripped of his royal title and opted to surrender his rented residence in Windsor.

Records and Claims

Mountbatten Windsor’s name appears in records and flight logs obtained from Epstein’s estate and publicly released by the committee. He has also been charged by one of Epstein’s survivors, the late Virginia Giuffre, of sexual assault.

“The panel will investigate claims of abuse by Mountbatten Windsor, and will demand details on Epstein’s network, circle, and connections based on the men’s enduring and thoroughly recorded friendship,” the committee said in a press release.

It demanded particulars from Mountbatten Windsor on particulars of his friendship with Epstein, who took his own life in a New York jail cell in 2019. Andrew has repeatedly vehemently rejected any misconduct.

Details of the Letter

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

It added: “It has also been alleged that you traveled with Epstein to his New York residence, the Queen’s home at Balmoral, and to Mr Epstein’s private island in the US Virgin Islands, where you have been accused of harming young girls. This intimate friendship with Mr Epstein, combined with the newly disclosed 2011 electronic correspondence in which you wrote to him ‘we are in this together’, further confirms our suspicion that you may have important details about the wrongdoings committed by Mr Epstein and his accomplices.”

A notification regarding the letter said it was co-signed by 13 other Democrats on the committee and demands a reply by 20 November.

Previous Statements and Cooperation

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

However, the congressman does not have the power to compel the former prince and Congress itself cannot force testimony from a non-US citizen.

In 2020, US officials said that Mountbatten Windsor failed to respond to US appeals for an discussion. 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 follow up on his public commitment that he was “ready to help any appropriate 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 “given absolutely no cooperation”.

Demands for Transparency

The congressman said in a announcement that “rich and powerful men have evaded justice for far too long. Now, one-time Prince Andrew has the opportunity to tell the truth and deliver justice for the survivors. Oversight Democrats will not cease pushing for answerability and transparency for survivors of Epstein and his gang of accomplices.”

Another signatory, a Virginia Democrat, said that after receiving evidence to the committee from Epstein’s survivors, as well as public reporting of released files, “it is vital that Andrew works together with the active probe. If he is innocent, then he can vindicate himself.”

The lawmaker continued: “And if not, our examination will show that, and the victims will receive belated accountability. The monarchy’s actions stripping Andrew of his styles indicate there is further to this situation.”

The letter was sent on the same day the British king publicly removed Mountbatten Windsor of his HRH style. Charles III publicly made the alteration – which had been declared a week ago – by issuing a “letters patent” which the royal office released in the Gazette, the UK’s public registry.