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A US congressional committee looking into pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein has reached out to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, previously Britain’s Prince Andrew, asking that he undergo questioning as part of its probe into Epstein’s wrongdoings.

In a letter published on Thursday, a California congressman, the leading Democrat on the House oversight committee, urged that King Charles III’s brother cooperate with its probe.

The written appeal to provide testimony arrives a week after Mountbatten Windsor was lost his royal title and opted to surrender his property in Windsor.

Records and Allegations

Mountbatten Windsor’s name is listed in records and aviation records 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 sexual assault.

“The committee will probe accusations of abuse by Mountbatten Windsor, and will seek information on Epstein’s activities, associates, and associates based on the men’s long-term and extensively reported friendship,” the committee said in a press release.

It demanded information from Mountbatten Windsor on details of his relationship with Epstein, who killed himself in a New York detention facility in 2019. Andrew has consistently strongly denied any wrongdoing.

Details of the Letter

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

It continued: “It has also been reported that you journeyed with Epstein to his New York home, the Queen’s estate at Balmoral, and to Mr Epstein’s private island in the US Virgin Islands, where you have been charged of abusing young girls. This intimate friendship with Mr Epstein, along with the freshly uncovered 2011 electronic correspondence 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 partners in crime.”

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

Past Remarks and Collaboration

The letter arrives a week after another Democrat on the committee told: “Andrew should be summoned to appear before the oversight committee. The citizens deserves to know who was abusing women and young girls alongside Epstein.”

However, the congressman does not have the power to compel the former prince and Congress itself cannot oblige testimony from a overseas individual.

In 2020, US agencies said that Mountbatten Windsor did not respond to US requests for an meeting. The then US attorney for the southern district of New York said that authorities and the FBI had reached out to Andrew’s attorneys to check on his previous pledge that he was “prepared to help any appropriate law enforcement agency”.

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

Demands for Justice

The congressman said in a announcement that “rich and well-connected men have evaded justice for far too long. Now, former Prince Andrew has the option to tell the truth and provide justice for the victims. We will not cease pushing for responsibility and transparency for survivors of Epstein and his group of partners.”

Another signatory, a Virginia Democrat, said that after hearing accounts to the committee from Epstein’s survivors, as well as news accounts of disclosed papers, “it is essential that Andrew works together with the ongoing probe. If he is not guilty, then he can prove his innocence.”

The lawmaker continued: “And if not, our examination will reveal that, and the victims will receive belated redress. The royal household’s actions taking away Andrew of his styles indicate there is additional to this story.”

The letter came on the same day the British king publicly stripped Mountbatten Windsor of his princely title. Charles III publicly made the alteration – which had been declared a week ago – by issuing a “official document” which the royal office released in the Gazette, the UK’s official public record.