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A American legislative panel investigating convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has sent a letter to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, previously Britain’s Prince Andrew, requesting that he undergo an interview as part of its inquiry into Epstein’s criminal operations.

In a document published on Thursday, a US representative, the senior Democrat on the House oversight panel, requested that King Charles III’s brother assist with its inquiry.

The formal request to provide testimony follows a week after Mountbatten Windsor was relieved of his royal title and opted to give up his rented residence in Windsor.

Records and Claims

Mountbatten Windsor’s name features in records and travel logs secured from Epstein’s estate and publicly released 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 demand data on Epstein’s activities, circle, and connections based on the men’s longstanding and extensively reported friendship,” the committee said in a press release.

It sought details from Mountbatten Windsor on particulars of his friendship with Epstein, who took his own life in a New York prison cell in 2019. Andrew has always categorically denied any misconduct.

Details of the Communication

“It has been documented that your relationship with Mr Epstein commenced in 1999 and that you continued associating through and after his 2008 guilty verdict for trafficking underage girls for prostitution,” the letter said.

It added: “It has also been alleged that you traveled with Epstein to his New York residence, the Queen’s residence at Balmoral, and to Mr Epstein’s personal island in the US Virgin Islands, where you have been charged of abusing underage individuals. This intimate friendship with Mr Epstein, combined with the freshly uncovered 2011 email exchange in which you wrote to him ‘we are in this together’, further supports our concern that you may have important details about the offenses committed by Mr Epstein and his accomplices.”

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

Earlier Statements and Assistance

The letter arrives a week after another Democrat on the committee commented: “Andrew should be summoned to give evidence before the panel. The citizens deserves to know who was assaulting women and minors alongside Epstein.”

However, the congressman does not have the ability to legally require the duke and Congress itself cannot compel testimony from a overseas individual.

In 2020, US agencies said that Mountbatten Windsor failed to reply to US demands for an discussion. 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 earlier promise that he was “willing to help any appropriate law enforcement agency”.

“It’s just for people to know whether Prince Andrew has honored with that assurance,” the attorney said, adding that to date he had “offered no cooperation”.

Appeals for Transparency

The lawmaker said in a comment that “rich and well-connected men have escaped accountability for far too long. Now, former Prince Andrew has the opportunity to tell the truth and deliver accountability for the affected individuals. Oversight Democrats will not cease pushing for accountability and clarity for those affected of Epstein and his gang of co-conspirators.”

Another supporter, a Virginia Democrat, said that after listening to accounts to the committee from Epstein’s accusers, as well as news accounts of disclosed papers, “it is crucial that Andrew assists with the current inquiry. If he is not guilty, then he can prove his innocence.”

The lawmaker continued: “And if not, our probe will reveal that, and the survivors will receive long overdue justice. The royal household’s actions removing Andrew of his titles suggest there is further to this story.”

The letter came on the same day the British king formally revoked Mountbatten Windsor of his HRH style. Charles III officially made the alteration – which had been announced a week ago – by issuing a “royal decree” which the monarch’s office published in the Gazette, the UK’s government journal.