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

In a communication released on Thursday, a US representative, the top Democrat on the House oversight panel, asked that King Charles III’s sibling cooperate with its investigation.

The official demand to respond to queries follows a week after Mountbatten Windsor was lost his royal title and consented to give up his leased home in Windsor.

Records and Allegations

Mountbatten Windsor’s name appears in papers and aviation records subpoenaed from Epstein’s estate and made public by the committee. He has also been accused by one of Epstein’s survivors, the late Virginia Giuffre, of abuse.

“The panel will investigate claims of misconduct by Mountbatten Windsor, and will request details on Epstein’s activities, associates, and associates based on the men’s longstanding and extensively reported friendship,” the committee said in a press release.

It demanded details from Mountbatten Windsor on details of his friendship with Epstein, who took his own life in a New York detention facility in 2019. Andrew has repeatedly vehemently rejected any impropriety.

Details of the Communication

“It has been documented that your relationship with Mr Epstein started in 1999 and that you stayed connected through and after his 2008 conviction for trafficking underage girls for commercial sex acts,” the letter said.

It stated further: “It has also been reported that you journeyed with Epstein to his New York residence, the Queen’s estate at Balmoral, and to Mr Epstein’s private island in the US Virgin Islands, where you have been accused of harming underage individuals. This close relationship with Mr Epstein, coupled with the freshly uncovered 2011 digital communication in which you wrote to him ‘we are in this together’, further bolsters our belief that you may have key insights about the crimes committed by Mr Epstein and his co-conspirators.”

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

Earlier Remarks and Collaboration

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

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

In 2020, US officials said that Mountbatten Windsor neglected to cooperate to US demands for an interview. The then US attorney for the southern district of New York said that lawyers and the FBI had approached Andrew’s lawyers to follow up on his previous pledge that he was “prepared to help any relevant law enforcement agency”.

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

Demands for Accountability

The lawmaker said in a comment that “wealthy and influential men have avoided justice for far too long. Now, former Prince Andrew has the opportunity to be honest and deliver redress for the survivors. We will not cease fighting for accountability and clarity for victims of Epstein and his gang of accomplices.”

Another supporter, a Virginia Democrat, said that after hearing accounts to the committee from Epstein’s victims, as well as news accounts of leaked documents, “it is vital that Andrew assists with the active probe. If he is not guilty, then he can prove his innocence.”

The lawmaker continued: “And if not, our examination will demonstrate that, and the survivors will receive long overdue accountability. The monarchy’s actions removing Andrew of his honors suggest there is additional to this story.”

The letter came on the same day the British king publicly revoked Mountbatten Windsor of his royal title. Charles III publicly made the alteration – which had been revealed a week ago – by issuing a “official document” which the monarch’s office made public in the Gazette, the UK’s public registry.