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A American legislative panel looking into pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein has reached out to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, previously Britain’s Prince Andrew, requesting that he submit to questioning as part of its investigation into Epstein’s criminal operations.

In a communication published on Thursday, a lawmaker, the senior Democrat on the House investigative committee, asked that King Charles III’s brother assist with its probe.

The official demand to provide testimony follows a week after Mountbatten Windsor was stripped of his royal title and opted to surrender his property in Windsor.

Records and Allegations

Mountbatten Windsor’s name appears in records and aviation records obtained from Epstein’s estate and publicly released by the committee. He has also been alleged by one of Epstein’s accusers, the late Virginia Giuffre, of sexual assault.

“The committee will examine claims of wrongdoing by Mountbatten Windsor, and will request information on Epstein’s activities, network, and accomplices based on the men’s enduring and well-documented friendship,” the committee said in a announcement.

It demanded 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.

Substance of the Request

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

It continued: “It has also been claimed that you traveled with Epstein to his New York residence, the Queen’s estate at Balmoral, and to Mr Epstein’s personal island in the US Virgin Islands, where you have been accused of harming young girls. This intimate friendship with Mr Epstein, combined with the newly disclosed 2011 electronic correspondence in which you wrote to him ‘we are in this together’, further bolsters our concern that you may have valuable information about the crimes committed by Mr Epstein and his partners in crime.”

A announcement regarding the letter said it was endorsed by 13 other Democrats on the committee and asks a response by 20 November.

Earlier Comments and Cooperation

The letter follows a week after another Democrat on the committee stated: “Andrew should be asked to give evidence before the committee. The public has the right to know who was harming women and young girls alongside Epstein.”

However, the representative does not possess the ability to subpoena the duke and Congress itself cannot oblige testimony from a overseas individual.

In 2020, US authorities said that Mountbatten Windsor neglected to respond to US requests for an interview. The then US attorney for the southern district of New York said that authorities and the FBI had approached Andrew’s legal team to inquire on his public commitment that he was “prepared to help any relevant law enforcement agency”.

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

Calls for Accountability

The congressman said in a comment that “wealthy and well-connected men have evaded justice for far too long. Now, former Prince Andrew has the opportunity to come clean and deliver accountability for the affected individuals. Oversight Democrats will not cease fighting for accountability and openness for victims of Epstein and his gang of co-conspirators.”

Another signatory, a Virginia Democrat, said that after listening to evidence to the committee from Epstein’s victims, as well as news accounts of released files, “it is crucial that Andrew cooperates with the current inquiry. If he is not guilty, then he can clear his name.”

The lawmaker continued: “And if not, our investigation will demonstrate that, and the affected individuals will receive long overdue justice. The Royal Family’s actions stripping Andrew of his titles indicate there is further to this situation.”

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