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A US congressional committee looking into sex offender financier Jeffrey Epstein has sent a letter to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, previously Britain’s Prince Andrew, asking that he undergo questioning as part of its inquiry into Epstein’s illegal activities.

In a document published on Thursday, a California congressman, the top Democrat on the House investigative committee, urged that King Charles III’s younger brother help with its probe.

The formal request to answer questions arrives a week after Mountbatten Windsor was stripped of his royal title and consented to vacate his rented residence in Windsor.

Documents and Claims

Mountbatten Windsor’s name is listed in documents and travel logs obtained from Epstein’s estate and made public by the committee. He has also been charged by one of Epstein’s victims, the late Virginia Giuffre, of misconduct.

“The committee will examine claims of abuse by Mountbatten Windsor, and will seek information on Epstein’s operations, associates, and associates based on the men’s enduring and extensively reported friendship,” the committee said in a statement.

It sought information from Mountbatten Windsor on specifics of his friendship with Epstein, who took his own life in a New York detention facility in 2019. Andrew has repeatedly strongly denied any misconduct.

Substance of the Request

“It has been publicly reported that your association with Mr Epstein started in 1999 and that you remained close through and after his 2008 conviction for soliciting minors for commercial sex acts,” the letter said.

It continued: “It has also been alleged that you journeyed 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 harming underage individuals. This intimate friendship with Mr Epstein, combined with the newly disclosed 2011 email exchange in which you wrote to him ‘we are in this together’, further bolsters our belief that you may have valuable information about the offenses committed by Mr Epstein and his partners in crime.”

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

Past Statements and Assistance

The letter arrives a week after another Democrat on the committee commented: “Andrew should be summoned to appear before the oversight committee. The public should be able to know who was assaulting women and minors alongside Epstein.”

However, the lawmaker does not have the authority to subpoena the former prince and Congress itself cannot force statements from a overseas individual.

In 2020, US officials said that Mountbatten Windsor neglected to reply to US demands for an meeting. The then US attorney for the southern district of New York said that prosecutors and the FBI had reached out to Andrew’s lawyers to check on his public commitment that he was “ready to help any appropriate law enforcement agency”.

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

Calls for Transparency

The congressman said in a announcement that “affluent and powerful men have avoided justice for far too long. Now, one-time Prince Andrew has the option to come clean and provide redress for the affected individuals. Oversight Democrats will not halt advocating for answerability and clarity for victims of Epstein and his gang of co-conspirators.”

Another supporter, a Virginia Democrat, said that after hearing testimony to the committee from Epstein’s survivors, as well as news accounts of released files, “it is essential that Andrew cooperates with the current probe. If he is innocent, then he can clear his name.”

The lawmaker continued: “And if not, our examination will reveal that, and the victims will receive belated justice. The Royal Family’s actions stripping Andrew of his honors indicate there is more to this situation.”

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