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A US congressional body probing convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has reached out to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, previously Britain’s Prince Andrew, asking that he submit to questioning as part of its investigation into Epstein’s criminal operations.

In a letter released on Thursday, a US representative, the top Democrat on the House investigative committee, asked that King Charles III’s sibling help with its inquiry.

The official demand to respond to queries follows a week after Mountbatten Windsor was lost his HRH style and consented to surrender his leased home in Windsor.

Files and Accusations

Mountbatten Windsor’s name features in papers and travel logs subpoenaed from Epstein’s estate and publicly released by the committee. He has also been alleged by one of Epstein’s survivors, the late Virginia Giuffre, of misconduct.

“The panel will probe allegations of misconduct by Mountbatten Windsor, and will seek data on Epstein’s activities, associates, and accomplices based on the men’s longstanding and well-documented friendship,” the committee said in a announcement.

It requested particulars from Mountbatten Windsor on particulars of his association with Epstein, who took his own life in a New York prison cell in 2019. Andrew has always categorically denied any impropriety.

Substance of the Communication

“It has been publicly reported that your association with Mr Epstein commenced in 1999 and that you continued associating through and after his 2008 sentencing for soliciting minors for prostitution,” the letter said.

It stated further: “It has also been claimed that you traveled with Epstein to his New York property, 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 young girls. This close relationship with Mr Epstein, coupled with the recently revealed 2011 email exchange in which you wrote to him ‘we are in this together’, further supports our belief that you may have valuable information about the crimes 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 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 testify before the panel. The people should be able to know who was harming women and minors alongside Epstein.”

However, the congressman does not hold the authority to compel the duke and Congress itself cannot compel statements from a foreign national.

In 2020, US agencies said that Mountbatten Windsor did not cooperate to US requests for an interview. The then US attorney for the southern district of New York said that prosecutors and the FBI had approached Andrew’s legal team to inquire on his public commitment that he was “willing to help any relevant law enforcement agency”.

“It’s fair for people to know whether Prince Andrew has honored with that assurance,” the attorney said, adding that to date he had “offered zero cooperation”.

Calls for Accountability

The lawmaker said in a statement that “affluent and well-connected men have avoided accountability for far too long. Now, ex- Prince Andrew has the opportunity to tell the truth and deliver justice for the victims. The committee will not stop 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 survivors, as well as public reporting of disclosed papers, “it is essential that Andrew assists with the active inquiry. If he is not guilty, then he can vindicate himself.”

The lawmaker continued: “And if not, our investigation will demonstrate that, and the affected individuals will receive belated accountability. The monarchy’s actions stripping Andrew of his styles show there is additional to this case.”

The letter came on the same day the British king publicly stripped Mountbatten Windsor of his HRH style. Charles III officially made the alteration – which had been declared a week ago – by issuing a “royal decree” which the royal office released in the Gazette, the UK’s public registry.