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A American legislative body investigating pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein has reached out to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, once Britain’s Prince Andrew, demanding that he submit to an interview as part of its inquiry into Epstein’s wrongdoings.

In a communication made public on Thursday, a US representative, the top Democrat on the House oversight committee, requested that King Charles III’s brother assist with its probe.

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

Files and Claims

Mountbatten Windsor’s name is listed in records and flight logs obtained from Epstein’s estate and made public by the committee. He has also been alleged by one of Epstein’s victims, the late Virginia Giuffre, of misconduct.

“The oversight committee will examine accusations of wrongdoing by Mountbatten Windsor, and will seek data on Epstein’s activities, circle, and accomplices based on the men’s enduring and thoroughly recorded friendship,” the committee said in a statement.

It requested details from Mountbatten Windsor on details of his relationship with Epstein, who took his own life in a New York prison cell in 2019. Andrew has always vehemently rejected any impropriety.

Details of the Request

“It has been widely reported that your friendship with Mr Epstein started in 1999 and that you continued associating through and after his 2008 guilty verdict for trafficking underage girls for commercial sex acts,” the letter said.

It continued: “It has also been claimed that you traveled with Epstein to his New York residence, the Queen’s home at Balmoral, and to Mr Epstein’s personal island in the US Virgin Islands, where you have been accused of assaulting young girls. This close relationship with Mr Epstein, coupled with the newly disclosed 2011 digital communication in which you wrote to him ‘we are in this together’, further bolsters our suspicion that you may have key insights about the offenses committed by Mr Epstein and his accomplices.”

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

Past Comments and Cooperation

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

However, the representative does not possess the authority to subpoena the ex-royal and Congress itself cannot compel statements from a non-US citizen.

In 2020, US authorities said that Mountbatten Windsor failed to respond to US appeals for an meeting. The then US attorney for the southern district of New York said that authorities and the FBI had approached Andrew’s legal team to follow up on his earlier promise that he was “prepared to help any suitable law enforcement agency”.

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

Demands for Justice

The representative said in a statement that “rich and influential men have avoided accountability for far too long. Now, one-time Prince Andrew has the opportunity to come clean and deliver justice for the affected individuals. The committee will not cease fighting for answerability and transparency for victims of Epstein and his gang of partners.”

Another signatory, a Virginia Democrat, said that after hearing testimony to the committee from Epstein’s survivors, as well as media coverage of leaked documents, “it is vital that Andrew cooperates with the current probe. If he is not guilty, then he can vindicate himself.”

The lawmaker stated further: “And if not, our examination will demonstrate that, and the victims will receive much-delayed justice. The royal household’s actions taking away Andrew of his titles suggest there is more to this situation.”

The letter was sent on the same day the British king publicly stripped Mountbatten Windsor of his royal title. Charles III publicly made the change – which had been declared a week ago – by issuing a “royal decree” which the crown office made public in the Gazette, the UK’s government journal.