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

In a letter released on Thursday, a California congressman, the top Democrat on the House oversight committee, asked that King Charles III’s younger brother help with its inquiry.

The formal request to answer questions arrives a week after Mountbatten Windsor was lost his princely title and agreed to give up his property in Windsor.

Files and Allegations

Mountbatten Windsor’s name features in papers and flight logs obtained from Epstein’s estate and made public by the committee. He has also been accused by one of Epstein’s accusers, the late Virginia Giuffre, of sexual assault.

“The panel will examine accusations of misconduct by Mountbatten Windsor, and will demand information on Epstein’s activities, circle, and accomplices based on the men’s longstanding and thoroughly recorded friendship,” the committee said in a statement.

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

Substance of the Request

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

It added: “It has also been claimed that you journeyed with Epstein to his New York property, the Queen’s estate at Balmoral, and to Mr Epstein’s private island in the US Virgin Islands, where you have been charged of assaulting young girls. This intimate friendship with Mr Epstein, coupled with the newly disclosed 2011 email exchange in which you wrote to him ‘we are in this together’, further confirms our belief that you may have key insights about the offenses committed by Mr Epstein and his partners in crime.”

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

Past Remarks and Cooperation

The letter comes a week after another Democrat on the committee told: “Andrew should be summoned to testify before the oversight committee. The people has the right to know who was assaulting women and young girls alongside Epstein.”

However, the lawmaker does not have the ability to legally require the duke and Congress itself cannot compel evidence from a non-US citizen.

In 2020, US officials said that Mountbatten Windsor failed to reply to US requests for an interview. The then US attorney for the southern district of New York said that prosecutors and the FBI had reached out to Andrew’s attorneys to inquire on his earlier promise that he was “ready to help any appropriate law enforcement agency”.

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

Calls for Justice

The lawmaker said in a announcement that “wealthy and powerful men have escaped accountability for far too long. Now, one-time Prince Andrew has the opportunity to be honest and provide justice for the survivors. The committee will not halt advocating for responsibility and clarity for those affected of Epstein and his network of co-conspirators.”

Another endorser, a Virginia Democrat, said that after listening to testimony to the committee from Epstein’s accusers, as well as news accounts of released files, “it is vital that Andrew works together with the current probe. If he is innocent, then he can prove his innocence.”

The lawmaker stated further: “And if not, our investigation will reveal that, and the victims will receive belated accountability. The Royal Family’s actions taking away Andrew of his styles suggest there is further to this story.”

The letter was issued on the same day the British king formally revoked Mountbatten Windsor of his HRH style. Charles III formally made the alteration – which had been announced a week ago – by issuing a “official document” which the crown office released in the Gazette, the UK’s government journal.