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A US congressional body investigating sex offender financier Jeffrey Epstein has formally written to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, formerly Britain’s Prince Andrew, asking that he undergo an interview as part of its probe into Epstein’s wrongdoings.

In a communication released on Thursday, a California congressman, the top Democrat on the House oversight committee, asked that King Charles III’s brother assist with its inquiry.

The formal request to answer questions arrives a week after Mountbatten Windsor was lost his princely title and opted to surrender his leased home in Windsor.

Records and Claims

Mountbatten Windsor’s name is listed in records and travel logs obtained 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 misconduct.

“The panel will examine claims of misconduct by Mountbatten Windsor, and will request information on Epstein’s activities, associates, and accomplices based on the men’s long-term and thoroughly recorded friendship,” the committee said in a announcement.

It sought particulars from Mountbatten Windsor on specifics of his friendship with Epstein, who took his own life in a New York jail cell in 2019. Andrew has always strongly denied any wrongdoing.

Details of the Letter

“It has been publicly reported that your association with Mr Epstein commenced in 1999 and that you continued associating through and after his 2008 sentencing for soliciting minors for sex work,” the letter said.

It stated further: “It has also been claimed that you went 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 alleged of harming minors. This intimate friendship with Mr Epstein, along with the freshly uncovered 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 wrongdoings committed by Mr Epstein and his co-conspirators.”

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

Earlier Comments and Cooperation

The letter comes a week after another Democrat on the committee commented: “Andrew should be summoned to testify before the committee. The public deserves to know who was assaulting women and underage individuals alongside Epstein.”

However, the lawmaker does not hold the power to legally require the former prince and Congress itself cannot oblige statements from a foreign national.

In 2020, US authorities said that Mountbatten Windsor failed to reply to US appeals for an interview. The then US attorney for the southern district of New York said that authorities and the FBI had approached Andrew’s attorneys to follow up on his public commitment that he was “prepared to help any suitable 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 “given no cooperation”.

Appeals for Transparency

The lawmaker said in a comment that “wealthy and powerful men have evaded accountability for far too long. Now, one-time Prince Andrew has the chance to tell the truth and secure justice for the victims. Oversight Democrats will not cease advocating for accountability and openness for survivors of Epstein and his network of accomplices.”

Another supporter, a Virginia Democrat, said that after listening to accounts to the committee from Epstein’s victims, as well as media coverage of disclosed papers, “it is essential that Andrew works together with the active inquiry. If he is blameless, then he can prove his innocence.”

The lawmaker continued: “And if not, our examination will show that, and the affected individuals will receive much-delayed accountability. The monarchy’s actions taking away Andrew of his styles indicate there is more to this situation.”

The letter came on the same day the British king officially stripped Mountbatten Windsor of his princely title. Charles III publicly made the alteration – which had been revealed a week ago – by issuing a “official document” which the crown office published in the Gazette, the UK’s government journal.