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A American legislative committee probing convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has formally written to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, formerly Britain’s Prince Andrew, asking that he participate in an interview as part of its probe into Epstein’s illegal activities.

In a document made public on Thursday, a US representative, the leading Democrat on the House investigative committee, requested that King Charles III’s sibling cooperate with its investigation.

The official demand to provide testimony follows a week after Mountbatten Windsor was stripped of his royal title and agreed to vacate his property in Windsor.

Records and Allegations

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

“The committee will probe allegations of misconduct by Mountbatten Windsor, and will seek data on Epstein’s operations, network, and accomplices based on the men’s longstanding and thoroughly recorded friendship,” the committee said in a announcement.

It requested details from Mountbatten Windsor on specifics of his friendship with Epstein, who killed himself in a New York jail cell in 2019. Andrew has repeatedly categorically denied any impropriety.

Substance of the Communication

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

It added: “It has also been reported that you journeyed with Epstein to his New York property, the Queen’s residence at Balmoral, and to Mr Epstein’s secluded island in the US Virgin Islands, where you have been charged of assaulting minors. This intimate friendship with Mr Epstein, combined with the newly disclosed 2011 electronic correspondence in which you wrote to him ‘we are in this together’, further bolsters our concern that you may have valuable information about the crimes committed by Mr Epstein and his co-conspirators.”

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

Earlier Statements and Cooperation

The letter comes a week after another Democrat on the committee stated: “Andrew should be asked to testify 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 possess the ability to compel the duke and Congress itself cannot force testimony from a overseas individual.

In 2020, US agencies said that Mountbatten Windsor failed to reply to US requests for an meeting. The then US attorney for the southern district of New York said that authorities and the FBI had approached Andrew’s lawyers to follow up on his public commitment that he was “ready to help any suitable law enforcement agency”.

“It’s just for people to know whether Prince Andrew has followed through with that public commitment,” the attorney said, adding that to date he had “given absolutely no cooperation”.

Calls for Accountability

The congressman said in a announcement that “wealthy and powerful men have evaded accountability for far too long. Now, one-time Prince Andrew has the opportunity to come clean and deliver accountability for the victims. Oversight Democrats will not stop fighting for responsibility and clarity for victims of Epstein and his gang of accomplices.”

Another supporter, a Virginia Democrat, said that after hearing testimony to the committee from Epstein’s victims, as well as news accounts of disclosed papers, “it is vital that Andrew cooperates with the active probe. If he is blameless, then he can prove his innocence.”

The lawmaker stated further: “And if not, our investigation will demonstrate that, and the survivors will receive long overdue redress. The Royal Family’s actions stripping Andrew of his styles show there is more to this case.”

The letter was sent on the same day the British king officially stripped Mountbatten Windsor of his HRH style. Charles III officially made the alteration – which had been declared a week ago – by issuing a “official document” which the royal office published in the Gazette, the UK’s public registry.