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A US congressional body looking into pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein has reached out to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, once Britain’s Prince Andrew, demanding that he undergo questioning as part of its investigation into Epstein’s wrongdoings.

In a letter published on Thursday, a US representative, the senior Democrat on the House oversight committee, asked that King Charles III’s younger brother assist with its inquiry.

The formal request to respond to queries arrives a week after Mountbatten Windsor was relieved of his princely title and consented to vacate his leased home in Windsor.

Records and Claims

Mountbatten Windsor’s name appears in records and travel logs subpoenaed from Epstein’s estate and publicly released by the committee. He has also been alleged by one of Epstein’s victims, the late Virginia Giuffre, of abuse.

“The committee will examine allegations of wrongdoing by Mountbatten Windsor, and will request data on Epstein’s network, associates, and associates based on the men’s enduring and extensively reported friendship,” the committee said in a statement.

It demanded details from Mountbatten Windsor on particulars of his relationship with Epstein, who took his own life in a New York detention facility in 2019. Andrew has consistently vehemently rejected any misconduct.

Content of the Request

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

It added: “It has also been claimed that you went with Epstein to his New York residence, the Queen’s estate at Balmoral, and to Mr Epstein’s secluded island in the US Virgin Islands, where you have been alleged of abusing young girls. This intimate friendship with Mr Epstein, combined with the recently revealed 2011 electronic correspondence 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 partners in crime.”

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

Previous Remarks and Collaboration

The letter comes a week after another Democrat on the committee commented: “Andrew should be summoned to give evidence before the oversight committee. The public should be able to know who was harming women and underage individuals alongside Epstein.”

However, the lawmaker does not have the ability to subpoena the duke and Congress itself cannot oblige evidence from a foreign national.

In 2020, US agencies said that Mountbatten Windsor did not respond to US requests for an meeting. The then US attorney for the southern district of New York said that authorities and the FBI had approached Andrew’s attorneys to follow up on his previous pledge that he was “willing to help any relevant law enforcement agency”.

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

Demands for Accountability

The congressman said in a comment that “affluent and influential men have escaped justice for far too long. Now, one-time Prince Andrew has the chance to come clean and deliver justice for the survivors. We will not cease pushing for responsibility and clarity for survivors of Epstein and his network of co-conspirators.”

Another supporter, a Virginia Democrat, said that after listening to evidence to the committee from Epstein’s victims, as well as news accounts of disclosed papers, “it is vital that Andrew works together with the current investigation. If he is blameless, then he can clear his name.”

The lawmaker added: “And if not, our probe will demonstrate that, and the affected individuals will receive much-delayed redress. The monarchy’s actions stripping Andrew of his styles indicate there is additional to this case.”

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