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A US congressional panel looking into sex offender financier Jeffrey Epstein has reached out to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, formerly Britain’s Prince Andrew, requesting that he participate in an interview as part of its inquiry into Epstein’s criminal operations.

In a communication made public on Thursday, a California congressman, the leading Democrat on the House oversight committee, urged that King Charles III’s sibling cooperate with its inquiry.

The formal request to answer questions arrives a week after Mountbatten Windsor was relieved of his princely title and consented to vacate his property in Windsor.

Records and Allegations

Mountbatten Windsor’s name features in documents and travel logs subpoenaed from Epstein’s estate and disclosed by the committee. He has also been accused by one of Epstein’s survivors, the late Virginia Giuffre, of sexual assault.

“The committee will investigate accusations of wrongdoing by Mountbatten Windsor, and will seek information on Epstein’s activities, associates, and connections based on the men’s longstanding and thoroughly recorded friendship,” the committee said in a announcement.

It sought information from Mountbatten Windsor on details of his association with Epstein, who died by suicide in a New York jail cell in 2019. Andrew has consistently vehemently rejected any impropriety.

Substance of the Request

“It has been publicly reported that your association with Mr Epstein commenced in 1999 and that you continued associating through and after his 2008 guilty verdict for soliciting minors for prostitution,” 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 personal island in the US Virgin Islands, where you have been alleged of abusing underage individuals. This intimate friendship with Mr Epstein, coupled with the freshly uncovered 2011 email exchange in which you wrote to him ‘we are in this together’, further bolsters our concern that you may have valuable information about the offenses committed by Mr Epstein and his co-conspirators.”

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

Earlier Remarks and Collaboration

The letter follows a week after another Democrat on the committee commented: “Andrew should be called to testify before the committee. The people has the right to know who was assaulting women and underage individuals alongside Epstein.”

However, the congressman does not hold the ability to compel the former prince and Congress itself cannot compel evidence from a foreign national.

In 2020, US officials said that Mountbatten Windsor neglected 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 approached Andrew’s lawyers to follow up on his public commitment that he was “willing 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 “provided no cooperation”.

Calls for Transparency

The lawmaker said in a announcement that “wealthy and powerful men have evaded justice for far too long. Now, ex- Prince Andrew has the option to tell the truth and deliver redress for the victims. Oversight Democrats will not halt fighting for responsibility and transparency for survivors of Epstein and his gang of partners.”

Another supporter, a Virginia Democrat, said that after listening to accounts to the committee from Epstein’s survivors, as well as media coverage of released files, “it is crucial that Andrew cooperates with the current inquiry. If he is not guilty, then he can vindicate himself.”

The lawmaker stated further: “And if not, our probe will reveal that, and the affected individuals will receive belated accountability. The royal household’s actions taking away Andrew of his styles suggest there is additional to this situation.”

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