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A American legislative committee investigating pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein has sent a letter to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, previously Britain’s Prince Andrew, requesting that he undergo an interview as part of its inquiry into Epstein’s criminal operations.

In a document made public on Thursday, a lawmaker, the senior Democrat on the House oversight panel, asked that King Charles III’s sibling help with its investigation.

The formal request to provide testimony follows a week after Mountbatten Windsor was stripped of his royal title and agreed to surrender his property in Windsor.

Records and Allegations

Mountbatten Windsor’s name is listed in records and aviation records obtained from Epstein’s estate and made public by the committee. He has also been charged by one of Epstein’s accusers, the late Virginia Giuffre, of abuse.

“The panel will investigate claims of wrongdoing by Mountbatten Windsor, and will request information on Epstein’s operations, circle, and associates based on the men’s enduring and well-documented friendship,” the committee said in a press release.

It sought information from Mountbatten Windsor on details of his friendship with Epstein, who killed himself in a New York jail cell in 2019. Andrew has always strongly denied any wrongdoing.

Content of the Communication

“It has been widely reported that your friendship with Mr Epstein began in 1999 and that you stayed connected through and after his 2008 conviction for procuring minors for commercial sex acts,” the letter said.

It continued: “It has also been claimed that you journeyed with Epstein to his New York home, the Queen’s home at Balmoral, and to Mr Epstein’s personal island in the US Virgin Islands, where you have been alleged of abusing minors. This intimate friendship with Mr Epstein, coupled with the recently revealed 2011 digital communication in which you wrote to him ‘we are in this together’, further supports our suspicion 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 endorsed by 13 other Democrats on the committee and demands a answer by 20 November.

Earlier Remarks and Cooperation

The letter comes a week after another Democrat on the committee told: “Andrew should be asked to testify before the committee. The public should be able to know who was assaulting women and underage individuals alongside Epstein.”

However, the congressman does not have the ability to legally require the duke and Congress itself cannot force statements from a foreign national.

In 2020, US officials said that Mountbatten Windsor did not reply to US requests for an meeting. The then US attorney for the southern district of New York said that lawyers and the FBI had contacted Andrew’s attorneys to check on his public commitment that he was “willing to help any appropriate law enforcement agency”.

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

Calls for Accountability

The congressman said in a comment that “affluent and well-connected men have evaded the law for far too long. Now, ex- Prince Andrew has the chance to be honest and deliver accountability for the survivors. We will not stop pushing for responsibility and openness for victims of Epstein and his gang of co-conspirators.”

Another signatory, a Virginia Democrat, said that after hearing evidence to the committee from Epstein’s accusers, as well as news accounts of leaked documents, “it is essential that Andrew works together with the active investigation. If he is innocent, then he can prove his innocence.”

The lawmaker stated further: “And if not, our examination will demonstrate that, and the survivors will receive much-delayed redress. The Royal Family’s actions stripping Andrew of his titles suggest there is further to this story.”

The letter was issued on the same day the British king officially removed Mountbatten Windsor of his princely title. Charles III officially made the alteration – which had been declared a week ago – by issuing a “official document” which the crown office made public in the Gazette, the UK’s public registry.