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A US congressional committee probing pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein has reached out to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, previously Britain’s Prince Andrew, requesting that he undergo questioning as part of its probe into Epstein’s wrongdoings.

In a letter made public on Thursday, a US representative, the senior Democrat on the House oversight panel, requested that King Charles III’s younger brother help with its inquiry.

The formal request to provide testimony arrives a week after Mountbatten Windsor was stripped of his princely title and agreed to vacate his leased home in Windsor.

Records and Accusations

Mountbatten Windsor’s name appears in records and travel logs subpoenaed from Epstein’s estate and disclosed by the committee. He has also been charged by one of Epstein’s victims, the late Virginia Giuffre, of sexual assault.

“The oversight committee will examine claims of wrongdoing by Mountbatten Windsor, and will demand data on Epstein’s network, associates, and associates based on the men’s long-term and extensively reported friendship,” the committee said in a press release.

It requested particulars from Mountbatten Windsor on specifics of his friendship with Epstein, who took his own life in a New York detention facility in 2019. Andrew has consistently strongly denied any impropriety.

Content of the Letter

“It has been widely reported that your friendship with Mr Epstein began in 1999 and that you remained close through and after his 2008 conviction for trafficking underage girls for prostitution,” the letter said.

It added: “It has also been alleged that you went with Epstein to his New York property, the Queen’s home at Balmoral, and to Mr Epstein’s private island in the US Virgin Islands, where you have been charged of abusing young girls. This close relationship with Mr Epstein, combined with the newly disclosed 2011 email exchange in which you wrote to him ‘we are in this together’, further supports our concern that you may have key insights about the crimes committed by Mr Epstein and his accomplices.”

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

Previous Remarks and Assistance

The letter arrives a week after another Democrat on the committee commented: “Andrew should be asked to give evidence before the panel. The public has the right to know who was harming women and underage individuals alongside Epstein.”

However, the lawmaker does not possess the ability to subpoena the former prince and Congress itself cannot force testimony from a non-US citizen.

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

“It’s fair for people to know whether Prince Andrew has honored with that pledge,” the attorney said, adding that to date he had “provided absolutely no cooperation”.

Calls for Transparency

The congressman said in a announcement that “wealthy and well-connected men have escaped the law for far too long. Now, one-time Prince Andrew has the option to tell the truth and secure justice for the affected individuals. The committee will not halt pushing for accountability and transparency for survivors of Epstein and his group of partners.”

Another signatory, a Virginia Democrat, said that after listening to testimony to the committee from Epstein’s survivors, as well as media coverage of disclosed papers, “it is vital that Andrew assists with the ongoing investigation. If he is blameless, then he can clear his name.”

The lawmaker added: “And if not, our examination will reveal that, and the affected individuals will receive much-delayed justice. The monarchy’s actions stripping Andrew of his styles suggest there is more to this story.”

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