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A American legislative body looking into sex offender financier Jeffrey Epstein has sent a letter to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, formerly Britain’s Prince Andrew, asking that he submit to an interview as part of its inquiry into Epstein’s illegal activities.

In a letter published on Thursday, a US representative, the senior Democrat on the House investigative committee, asked that King Charles III’s younger brother help with its inquiry.

The written appeal to provide testimony follows a week after Mountbatten Windsor was lost his HRH style and agreed to surrender his rented residence in Windsor.

Documents and Claims

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

“The panel will examine accusations of wrongdoing by Mountbatten Windsor, and will demand data on Epstein’s operations, network, and associates based on the men’s enduring and extensively reported friendship,” the committee said in a announcement.

It sought details from Mountbatten Windsor on particulars of his relationship with Epstein, who took his own life in a New York prison cell in 2019. Andrew has repeatedly vehemently rejected any impropriety.

Substance of the Letter

“It has been widely reported that your friendship with Mr Epstein commenced in 1999 and that you continued associating through and after his 2008 guilty verdict for procuring minors for commercial sex acts,” the letter said.

It added: “It has also been claimed that you went with Epstein to his New York home, 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 young girls. This close relationship with Mr Epstein, combined with the freshly uncovered 2011 electronic correspondence in which you wrote to him ‘we are in this together’, further bolsters our suspicion that you may have key insights about the offenses committed by Mr Epstein and his accomplices.”

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

Past Comments and Cooperation

The letter comes a week after another Democrat on the committee stated: “Andrew should be summoned to appear before the oversight committee. The public should be able to know who was abusing women and underage individuals alongside Epstein.”

However, the congressman does not have the ability to compel the duke and Congress itself cannot force testimony from a non-US citizen.

In 2020, US agencies said that Mountbatten Windsor neglected to cooperate to US appeals for an meeting. 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 earlier promise that he was “prepared to help any relevant law enforcement agency”.

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

Appeals for Justice

The congressman said in a comment that “wealthy and powerful men have escaped justice for far too long. Now, ex- Prince Andrew has the option to come clean and secure justice for the affected individuals. The committee will not cease pushing for responsibility and clarity for victims of Epstein and his network of co-conspirators.”

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 works together with the active inquiry. If he is blameless, then he can vindicate himself.”

The lawmaker stated further: “And if not, our probe will demonstrate that, and the survivors will receive belated accountability. The royal household’s actions removing Andrew of his styles suggest there is further to this case.”

The letter came on the same day the British king officially revoked Mountbatten Windsor of his HRH style. Charles III publicly made the adjustment – which had been revealed a week ago – by issuing a “royal decree” which the crown office made public in the Gazette, the UK’s public registry.