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A US congressional panel looking into pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein has formally written to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, once Britain’s Prince Andrew, demanding that he submit to questioning as part of its investigation into Epstein’s wrongdoings.

In a communication made public on Thursday, a lawmaker, the leading Democrat on the House oversight committee, asked that King Charles III’s younger brother help with its inquiry.

The official demand to respond to queries arrives a week after Mountbatten Windsor was lost his HRH style and consented to surrender his rented residence in Windsor.

Records and Allegations

Mountbatten Windsor’s name is listed in papers and flight logs obtained from Epstein’s estate and disclosed by the committee. He has also been alleged by one of Epstein’s accusers, the late Virginia Giuffre, of abuse.

“The committee will probe accusations of wrongdoing by Mountbatten Windsor, and will seek information on Epstein’s network, network, and associates based on the men’s long-term and thoroughly recorded friendship,” the committee said in a statement.

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

Substance of the Request

“It has been widely reported that your association with Mr Epstein began in 1999 and that you continued associating through and after his 2008 sentencing for trafficking underage girls for sex work,” the letter said.

It stated further: “It has also been claimed that you traveled with Epstein to his New York property, the Queen’s home at Balmoral, and to Mr Epstein’s personal island in the US Virgin Islands, where you have been charged of assaulting underage individuals. This close relationship with Mr Epstein, combined 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 key insights about the crimes committed by Mr Epstein and his partners in crime.”

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

Past Remarks and Cooperation

The letter comes a week after another Democrat on the committee told: “Andrew should be summoned to testify before the oversight committee. The people deserves to know who was assaulting women and minors alongside Epstein.”

However, the lawmaker does not have the authority to compel the ex-royal and Congress itself cannot compel evidence from a overseas individual.

In 2020, US authorities said that Mountbatten Windsor failed to cooperate to US demands for an discussion. The then US attorney for the southern district of New York said that authorities and the FBI had contacted Andrew’s attorneys to inquire on his public commitment that he was “ready to help any suitable law enforcement agency”.

“It’s just for people to know whether Prince Andrew has followed through with that pledge,” the attorney said, adding that to date he had “provided zero cooperation”.

Calls for Transparency

The lawmaker said in a comment that “rich and well-connected men have escaped the law for far too long. Now, one-time Prince Andrew has the option to be honest and secure accountability for the survivors. Oversight Democrats will not stop advocating for answerability and transparency for victims of Epstein and his gang of accomplices.”

Another endorser, a Virginia Democrat, said that after listening to testimony to the committee from Epstein’s survivors, as well as news accounts of leaked documents, “it is essential that Andrew works together with the ongoing probe. If he is not guilty, then he can prove his innocence.”

The lawmaker stated further: “And if not, our investigation will reveal that, and the affected individuals will receive much-delayed justice. The Royal Family’s actions stripping Andrew of his titles indicate there is further to this story.”

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