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A US congressional body investigating convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has reached out to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, formerly Britain’s Prince Andrew, requesting that he undergo questioning as part of its investigation into Epstein’s wrongdoings.

In a communication released on Thursday, a lawmaker, the senior Democrat on the House investigative committee, urged that King Charles III’s sibling help with its probe.

The formal request to answer questions comes a week after Mountbatten Windsor was stripped of his HRH style and opted to vacate his leased home in Windsor.

Records and Allegations

Mountbatten Windsor’s name features in records and travel logs secured from Epstein’s estate and made public by the committee. He has also been alleged by one of Epstein’s accusers, the late Virginia Giuffre, of abuse.

“The oversight committee will probe claims of wrongdoing by Mountbatten Windsor, and will demand details on Epstein’s operations, associates, and associates based on the men’s enduring and well-documented friendship,” the committee said in a announcement.

It requested information from Mountbatten Windsor on specifics of his friendship with Epstein, who killed himself in a New York prison cell in 2019. Andrew has always categorically denied any impropriety.

Details of the Letter

“It has been widely reported that your friendship with Mr Epstein started in 1999 and that you remained close through and after his 2008 sentencing for trafficking underage girls for prostitution,” the letter said.

It continued: “It has also been reported that you journeyed with Epstein to his New York residence, the Queen’s home at Balmoral, and to Mr Epstein’s private island in the US Virgin Islands, where you have been charged of harming underage individuals. This close relationship with Mr Epstein, combined with the freshly uncovered 2011 digital communication in which you wrote to him ‘we are in this together’, further confirms our belief that you may have important details about the crimes committed by Mr Epstein and his accomplices.”

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

Earlier Comments and Assistance

The letter follows a week after another Democrat on the committee stated: “Andrew should be asked to give evidence before the oversight committee. The public deserves to know who was abusing women and minors alongside Epstein.”

However, the congressman does not hold the ability to legally require the duke and Congress itself cannot oblige evidence from a non-US citizen.

In 2020, US agencies said that Mountbatten Windsor neglected to respond to US appeals for an interview. The then US attorney for the southern district of New York said that lawyers and the FBI had approached Andrew’s attorneys to inquire on his earlier promise that he was “ready to help any relevant law enforcement agency”.

“It’s fair for people to know whether Prince Andrew has honored with that public commitment,” the attorney said, adding that to date he had “offered zero cooperation”.

Demands for Transparency

The representative said in a statement that “affluent and powerful men have avoided justice for far too long. Now, one-time Prince Andrew has the option to come clean and secure accountability for the victims. Oversight Democrats will not stop pushing for responsibility and transparency for survivors of Epstein and his network of accomplices.”

Another endorser, a Virginia Democrat, said that after listening to evidence to the committee from Epstein’s victims, as well as media coverage of released files, “it is vital that Andrew works together with the ongoing probe. If he is blameless, then he can prove his innocence.”

The lawmaker added: “And if not, our investigation will show that, and the survivors will receive much-delayed justice. The royal household’s actions stripping Andrew of his titles suggest there is additional to this story.”

The letter was sent on the same day the British king publicly revoked Mountbatten Windsor of his HRH style. Charles III officially made the alteration – which had been declared a week ago – by issuing a “letters patent” which the monarch’s office released in the Gazette, the UK’s official public record.