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A American legislative panel probing pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein has reached out to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, previously Britain’s Prince Andrew, asking that he participate in an interview as part of its investigation into Epstein’s wrongdoings.

In a communication published on Thursday, a lawmaker, the top Democrat on the House oversight committee, requested that King Charles III’s brother cooperate with its investigation.

The official demand to answer questions arrives a week after Mountbatten Windsor was stripped of his princely title and consented to surrender his property in Windsor.

Records and Allegations

Mountbatten Windsor’s name is listed in papers and aviation records subpoenaed from Epstein’s estate and disclosed by the committee. He has also been alleged by one of Epstein’s survivors, the late Virginia Giuffre, of misconduct.

“The oversight committee will investigate allegations of wrongdoing by Mountbatten Windsor, and will demand details on Epstein’s activities, associates, and associates based on the men’s enduring and thoroughly recorded friendship,” the committee said in a press release.

It sought particulars from Mountbatten Windsor on details of his association with Epstein, who took his own life in a New York detention facility in 2019. Andrew has consistently categorically denied any impropriety.

Details of the Request

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

It added: “It has also been claimed that you went with Epstein to his New York property, the Queen’s residence at Balmoral, and to Mr Epstein’s private island in the US Virgin Islands, where you have been charged of assaulting young girls. This strong bond with Mr Epstein, combined with the recently revealed 2011 email exchange in which you wrote to him ‘we are in this together’, further confirms our suspicion that you may have valuable information about the offenses committed by Mr Epstein and his accomplices.”

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

Earlier Comments and Collaboration

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

However, the congressman does not have the authority to compel the duke and Congress itself cannot compel testimony from a overseas individual.

In 2020, US officials said that Mountbatten Windsor neglected to respond to US appeals for an interview. The then US attorney for the southern district of New York said that prosecutors and the FBI had contacted Andrew’s attorneys to follow up on his public commitment that he was “prepared to help any suitable law enforcement agency”.

“It’s just for people to know whether Prince Andrew has followed through with that assurance,” the attorney said, adding that to date he had “provided zero cooperation”.

Demands for Justice

The lawmaker said in a comment that “rich and influential men have evaded the law for far too long. Now, one-time Prince Andrew has the opportunity to tell the truth and secure redress for the victims. The committee will not halt pushing for accountability and clarity for survivors of Epstein and his gang of accomplices.”

Another endorser, a Virginia Democrat, said that after receiving testimony to the committee from Epstein’s survivors, as well as news accounts of disclosed papers, “it is vital that Andrew cooperates with the active investigation. If he is not guilty, then he can prove his innocence.”

The lawmaker continued: “And if not, our investigation will reveal that, and the survivors will receive much-delayed redress. The Royal Family’s actions stripping Andrew of his honors indicate there is additional to this story.”

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