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A US congressional committee investigating pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein has formally written to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, previously Britain’s Prince Andrew, requesting that he undergo an interview as part of its probe into Epstein’s wrongdoings.

In a letter released on Thursday, a lawmaker, the senior Democrat on the House oversight panel, urged that King Charles III’s brother assist with its probe.

The formal request to respond to queries follows a week after Mountbatten Windsor was stripped of his HRH style and opted to vacate his rented residence in Windsor.

Records and Claims

Mountbatten Windsor’s name features in papers and aviation records secured from Epstein’s estate and disclosed by the committee. He has also been accused by one of Epstein’s survivors, the late Virginia Giuffre, of sexual assault.

“The oversight committee will investigate accusations of misconduct by Mountbatten Windsor, and will demand information on Epstein’s operations, associates, and accomplices based on the men’s longstanding and well-documented friendship,” the committee said in a statement.

It requested information from Mountbatten Windsor on specifics of his relationship with Epstein, who took his own life in a New York jail cell in 2019. Andrew has always categorically denied any misconduct.

Content of the Request

“It has been widely reported that your relationship with Mr Epstein started in 1999 and that you stayed connected through and after his 2008 guilty verdict for procuring minors for prostitution,” the letter said.

It stated further: “It has also been reported that you journeyed with Epstein to his New York property, the Queen’s residence at Balmoral, and to Mr Epstein’s private island in the US Virgin Islands, where you have been charged of assaulting underage individuals. This intimate friendship with Mr Epstein, along with the newly disclosed 2011 digital communication in which you wrote to him ‘we are in this together’, further confirms our concern that you may have important details about the crimes committed by Mr Epstein and his co-conspirators.”

A statement regarding the letter said it was supported by 13 other Democrats on the committee and requests a answer by 20 November.

Earlier Statements and Collaboration

The letter comes a week after another Democrat on the committee told: “Andrew should be called to give evidence before the oversight committee. The citizens deserves to know who was harming women and young girls alongside Epstein.”

However, the congressman does not possess the ability to legally require the ex-royal and Congress itself cannot force evidence from a foreign national.

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 lawyers and the FBI had contacted 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 honored with that pledge,” the attorney said, adding that to date he had “offered no cooperation”.

Calls for Transparency

The representative said in a comment that “rich and powerful men have evaded justice for far too long. Now, former Prince Andrew has the opportunity to tell the truth and secure redress for the survivors. We will not halt fighting for accountability and transparency for survivors of Epstein and his network of co-conspirators.”

Another supporter, a Virginia Democrat, said that after receiving accounts to the committee from Epstein’s survivors, as well as media coverage of leaked documents, “it is essential that Andrew works together with the current inquiry. If he is innocent, then he can prove his innocence.”

The lawmaker stated further: “And if not, our investigation will demonstrate that, and the survivors will receive belated redress. The royal household’s actions removing Andrew of his honors indicate there is more to this case.”

The letter was sent on the same day the British king formally removed Mountbatten Windsor of his royal title. Charles III publicly made the adjustment – which had been declared a week ago – by issuing a “letters patent” which the monarch’s office released in the Gazette, the UK’s public registry.