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A US congressional body probing convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has sent a letter to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, once Britain’s Prince Andrew, demanding that he participate in an interview as part of its investigation into Epstein’s wrongdoings.

In a communication made public on Thursday, a California congressman, the top Democrat on the House oversight committee, urged that King Charles III’s sibling help with its probe.

The official demand to respond to queries arrives a week after Mountbatten Windsor was stripped of his HRH style and agreed to vacate his leased home in Windsor.

Documents and Allegations

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

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

It requested information from Mountbatten Windsor on particulars of his relationship with Epstein, who killed himself in a New York detention facility in 2019. Andrew has always vehemently rejected any wrongdoing.

Content of the Letter

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

It added: “It has also been reported that you journeyed with Epstein to his New York home, the Queen’s residence at Balmoral, and to Mr Epstein’s private island in the US Virgin Islands, where you have been accused of harming young girls. This close relationship with Mr Epstein, coupled with the recently revealed 2011 electronic correspondence in which you wrote to him ‘we are in this together’, further bolsters our concern that you may have key insights about the offenses committed by Mr Epstein and his partners in crime.”

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

Earlier Statements and Collaboration

The letter arrives a week after another Democrat on the committee stated: “Andrew should be asked to appear before the committee. The citizens has the right to know who was abusing women and young girls alongside Epstein.”

However, the representative does not hold the power to legally require the duke and Congress itself cannot force statements from a non-US citizen.

In 2020, US agencies said that Mountbatten Windsor did not reply to US requests for an interview. The then US attorney for the southern district of New York said that lawyers and the FBI had reached out to Andrew’s attorneys to check on his earlier promise that he was “prepared to help any appropriate law enforcement agency”.

“It’s just for people to know whether Prince Andrew has fulfilled with that assurance,” the attorney said, adding that to date he had “provided zero cooperation”.

Calls for Transparency

The representative said in a announcement that “wealthy and powerful men have evaded justice for far too long. Now, former Prince Andrew has the chance to be honest and secure justice for the survivors. We will not halt advocating for accountability and clarity for victims of Epstein and his group of partners.”

Another endorser, a Virginia Democrat, said that after hearing testimony to the committee from Epstein’s accusers, as well as public reporting of leaked documents, “it is crucial that Andrew works together with the current probe. If he is innocent, then he can clear his name.”

The lawmaker added: “And if not, our examination will reveal that, and the survivors will receive long overdue accountability. The royal household’s actions stripping Andrew of his styles show there is more to this situation.”

The letter came on the same day the British king publicly removed Mountbatten Windsor of his princely title. Charles III officially made the alteration – which had been announced a week ago – by issuing a “letters patent” which the monarch’s office published in the Gazette, the UK’s public registry.