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A US congressional committee probing sex offender financier Jeffrey Epstein has formally written to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, once Britain’s Prince Andrew, asking that he participate in an interview as part of its investigation into Epstein’s illegal activities.

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

The official demand to provide testimony comes a week after Mountbatten Windsor was relieved of his princely title and consented to surrender his rented residence in Windsor.

Records and Accusations

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

“The oversight committee will probe accusations of abuse by Mountbatten Windsor, and will seek data on Epstein’s activities, associates, and connections based on the men’s enduring and well-documented friendship,” the committee said in a press release.

It sought details from Mountbatten Windsor on specifics of his friendship with Epstein, who died by suicide in a New York jail cell in 2019. Andrew has repeatedly strongly denied any misconduct.

Details of the Communication

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

It continued: “It has also been alleged that you traveled with Epstein to his New York home, the Queen’s home at Balmoral, and to Mr Epstein’s secluded island in the US Virgin Islands, where you have been charged of harming young girls. This close relationship with Mr Epstein, along with the newly disclosed 2011 digital communication in which you wrote to him ‘we are in this together’, further supports our belief that you may have valuable information about the wrongdoings committed by Mr Epstein and his partners in crime.”

A notification regarding the letter said it was co-signed by 13 other Democrats on the committee and demands a answer by 20 November.

Previous Statements and Cooperation

The letter arrives a week after another Democrat on the committee told: “Andrew should be called to give evidence before the committee. The citizens deserves to know who was assaulting women and minors alongside Epstein.”

However, the congressman does not possess the ability to compel the ex-royal and Congress itself cannot compel evidence from a foreign national.

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 lawyers and the FBI had reached out to Andrew’s lawyers to inquire on his earlier promise that he was “willing to help any relevant law enforcement agency”.

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

Demands for Transparency

The lawmaker said in a announcement that “rich and well-connected men have avoided the law for far too long. Now, former Prince Andrew has the option to be honest and deliver justice for the survivors. Oversight Democrats will not halt pushing for responsibility and openness for victims of Epstein and his network of co-conspirators.”

Another signatory, a Virginia Democrat, said that after hearing accounts to the committee from Epstein’s accusers, as well as media coverage of released files, “it is vital that Andrew assists with the ongoing probe. If he is innocent, then he can prove his innocence.”

The lawmaker added: “And if not, our examination will demonstrate that, and the survivors will receive much-delayed redress. The Royal Family’s actions stripping Andrew of his honors indicate there is more to this case.”

The letter was sent on the same day the British king officially stripped Mountbatten Windsor of his princely title. Charles III formally made the adjustment – which had been revealed a week ago – by issuing a “letters patent” which the crown office published in the Gazette, the UK’s government journal.