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A American legislative panel looking into pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein has sent a letter to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, formerly Britain’s Prince Andrew, asking that he submit to an interview as part of its investigation into Epstein’s illegal activities.

In a communication published on Thursday, a California congressman, the leading Democrat on the House investigative committee, asked that King Charles III’s sibling cooperate with its probe.

The written appeal to provide testimony arrives a week after Mountbatten Windsor was stripped of his HRH style and opted to vacate his property in Windsor.

Documents and Claims

Mountbatten Windsor’s name appears in documents and aviation records obtained from Epstein’s estate and disclosed by the committee. He has also been charged by one of Epstein’s survivors, the late Virginia Giuffre, of misconduct.

“The panel will examine allegations of wrongdoing by Mountbatten Windsor, and will seek information on Epstein’s activities, circle, and associates based on the men’s longstanding and thoroughly recorded friendship,” the committee said in a statement.

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

Substance of the Communication

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

It added: “It has also been claimed that you went with Epstein to his New York home, the Queen’s home at Balmoral, and to Mr Epstein’s secluded island in the US Virgin Islands, where you have been charged of harming underage individuals. This close relationship with Mr Epstein, coupled with the newly disclosed 2011 email exchange in which you wrote to him ‘we are in this together’, further confirms our belief that you may have key insights 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 requests a answer by 20 November.

Earlier Comments and Assistance

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

However, the congressman does not have the power to compel the ex-royal and Congress itself cannot oblige evidence from a non-US citizen.

In 2020, US officials said that Mountbatten Windsor neglected to respond to US requests for an meeting. The then US attorney for the southern district of New York said that authorities and the FBI had reached out to Andrew’s lawyers to check on his previous pledge that he was “prepared to help any appropriate law enforcement agency”.

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

Calls for Justice

The representative said in a comment that “wealthy and well-connected men have escaped justice for far too long. Now, former Prince Andrew has the opportunity to tell the truth and provide justice for the affected individuals. Oversight Democrats will not cease pushing for answerability and transparency for those affected of Epstein and his group of accomplices.”

Another supporter, a Virginia Democrat, said that after listening to accounts to the committee from Epstein’s survivors, as well as news accounts of disclosed papers, “it is vital that Andrew works together with the ongoing investigation. If he is not guilty, then he can clear his name.”

The lawmaker added: “And if not, our examination will demonstrate that, and the victims will receive long overdue justice. The Royal Family’s actions stripping Andrew of his styles indicate there is additional to this situation.”

The letter came on the same day the British king officially removed Mountbatten Windsor of his princely title. Charles III formally made the change – which had been announced a week ago – by issuing a “royal decree” which the crown office released in the Gazette, the UK’s public registry.