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A US congressional committee investigating sex offender financier Jeffrey Epstein has formally written to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, once Britain’s Prince Andrew, asking that he participate in questioning as part of its inquiry into Epstein’s criminal operations.

In a letter published on Thursday, a lawmaker, the top Democrat on the House oversight panel, requested that King Charles III’s brother cooperate with its inquiry.

The official demand to answer questions arrives a week after Mountbatten Windsor was stripped of his princely title and opted to give up his rented residence in Windsor.

Records and Allegations

Mountbatten Windsor’s name is listed in documents and flight logs obtained 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 sexual assault.

“The oversight committee will investigate allegations of wrongdoing by Mountbatten Windsor, and will demand data on Epstein’s operations, network, and accomplices based on the men’s long-term and thoroughly recorded friendship,” the committee said in a statement.

It sought information from Mountbatten Windsor on details of his friendship with Epstein, who died by suicide in a New York prison cell in 2019. Andrew has always categorically denied any misconduct.

Substance of the Communication

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

It continued: “It has also been alleged that you traveled with Epstein to his New York property, the Queen’s residence at Balmoral, and to Mr Epstein’s personal island in the US Virgin Islands, where you have been accused of harming minors. This close relationship with Mr Epstein, combined with the freshly uncovered 2011 email exchange in which you wrote to him ‘we are in this together’, further confirms our concern that you may have important details about the wrongdoings committed by Mr Epstein and his co-conspirators.”

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

Past Comments and Collaboration

The letter follows a week after another Democrat on the committee told: “Andrew should be summoned to give evidence before the committee. The public has the right to know who was harming women and underage individuals alongside Epstein.”

However, the lawmaker does not possess the authority to subpoena the former prince and Congress itself cannot oblige testimony from a foreign national.

In 2020, US authorities said that Mountbatten Windsor failed to respond to US appeals for an discussion. The then US attorney for the southern district of New York said that lawyers and the FBI had approached Andrew’s attorneys to check on his previous pledge 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 pledge,” the attorney said, adding that to date he had “given absolutely no cooperation”.

Calls for Transparency

The lawmaker said in a comment that “affluent and influential men have avoided the law for far too long. Now, former Prince Andrew has the opportunity to come clean and deliver accountability for the victims. The committee will not cease advocating for responsibility and openness for those affected of Epstein and his gang of co-conspirators.”

Another endorser, a Virginia Democrat, said that after receiving accounts to the committee from Epstein’s accusers, as well as news accounts of released files, “it is crucial that Andrew cooperates with the active probe. If he is not guilty, then he can vindicate himself.”

The lawmaker added: “And if not, our probe will demonstrate that, and the survivors will receive long overdue accountability. The monarchy’s actions taking away Andrew of his honors show there is additional to this story.”

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