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A American legislative body investigating pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein has sent a letter to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, formerly Britain’s Prince Andrew, asking that he undergo questioning as part of its inquiry into Epstein’s wrongdoings.

In a letter made public on Thursday, a California congressman, the top Democrat on the House oversight panel, requested that King Charles III’s younger brother assist with its inquiry.

The written appeal to provide testimony comes a week after Mountbatten Windsor was lost his royal title and opted to give up his rented residence in Windsor.

Documents and Allegations

Mountbatten Windsor’s name appears in records and flight logs secured from Epstein’s estate and disclosed by the committee. He has also been alleged by one of Epstein’s survivors, the late Virginia Giuffre, of sexual assault.

“The committee will investigate allegations of abuse by Mountbatten Windsor, and will seek data on Epstein’s operations, associates, and associates based on the men’s enduring and thoroughly recorded friendship,” the committee said in a statement.

It sought details from Mountbatten Windsor on specifics of his relationship with Epstein, who died by suicide in a New York prison cell in 2019. Andrew has consistently categorically denied any impropriety.

Details of the Request

“It has been publicly reported that your relationship with Mr Epstein started in 1999 and that you continued associating through and after his 2008 sentencing for procuring minors for commercial sex acts,” the letter said.

It stated further: “It has also been claimed that you traveled with Epstein to his New York property, the Queen’s residence at Balmoral, and to Mr Epstein’s personal island in the US Virgin Islands, where you have been alleged of assaulting young girls. This close relationship with Mr Epstein, combined with the freshly uncovered 2011 email exchange in which you wrote to him ‘we are in this together’, further confirms our suspicion that you may have key insights about the offenses committed by Mr Epstein and his co-conspirators.”

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

Earlier Statements and Assistance

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

However, the representative does not hold the authority to compel the ex-royal and Congress itself cannot force statements from a foreign national.

In 2020, US officials said that Mountbatten Windsor failed to 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 contacted Andrew’s attorneys to follow up on his public commitment that he was “willing to help any relevant 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 zero cooperation”.

Appeals for Transparency

The congressman said in a statement that “wealthy and powerful men have escaped justice for far too long. Now, ex- Prince Andrew has the chance to be honest and deliver redress for the survivors. Oversight Democrats will not cease pushing for responsibility and openness for those affected of Epstein and his group of partners.”

Another endorser, a Virginia Democrat, said that after hearing accounts to the committee from Epstein’s survivors, as well as public reporting of leaked documents, “it is vital that Andrew assists with the current probe. If he is innocent, then he can prove his innocence.”

The lawmaker added: “And if not, our probe will show that, and the victims will receive long overdue accountability. The monarchy’s actions taking away Andrew of his honors show there is further to this case.”

The letter was sent on the same day the British king publicly stripped Mountbatten Windsor of his princely title. Charles III formally made the change – which had been declared a week ago – by issuing a “letters patent” which the crown office made public in the Gazette, the UK’s official public record.