🔗 Share this article

A US congressional panel looking into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has formally written to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, previously Britain’s Prince Andrew, demanding that he undergo questioning as part of its investigation into Epstein’s wrongdoings.

In a document released on Thursday, a US representative, the leading Democrat on the House oversight panel, requested that King Charles III’s younger brother help with its probe.

The official demand to answer questions follows a week after Mountbatten Windsor was lost his royal title and opted to surrender his rented residence in Windsor.

Documents 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 accused by one of Epstein’s survivors, the late Virginia Giuffre, of abuse.

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

It sought details from Mountbatten Windsor on specifics of his association with Epstein, who killed himself in a New York detention facility in 2019. Andrew has repeatedly vehemently rejected any impropriety.

Details of the Letter

“It has been widely reported that your friendship with Mr Epstein started in 1999 and that you remained close through and after his 2008 guilty verdict for procuring minors for prostitution,” the letter said.

It stated further: “It has also been claimed that you traveled 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 accused of assaulting minors. This intimate friendship with Mr Epstein, along with the recently revealed 2011 digital communication in which you wrote to him ‘we are in this together’, further confirms our belief that you may have valuable information about the wrongdoings 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 asks a response by 20 November.

Earlier Statements and Cooperation

The letter follows a week after another Democrat on the committee told: “Andrew should be summoned to appear before the panel. The citizens deserves to know who was assaulting women and minors alongside Epstein.”

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

In 2020, US agencies said that Mountbatten Windsor failed to reply to US requests for an discussion. The then US attorney for the southern district of New York said that authorities and the FBI had contacted Andrew’s legal team to check on his public commitment that he was “willing to help any suitable law enforcement agency”.

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

Demands for Accountability

The representative said in a announcement that “rich and influential men have avoided justice for far too long. Now, former Prince Andrew has the chance to come clean and secure accountability for the victims. We will not cease pushing for responsibility and openness for survivors of Epstein and his network of co-conspirators.”

Another endorser, a Virginia Democrat, said that after listening to evidence to the committee from Epstein’s survivors, as well as public reporting of leaked documents, “it is essential that Andrew works together 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 affected individuals will receive belated justice. The royal household’s actions removing Andrew of his titles suggest there is more to this case.”

The letter was issued on the same day the British king publicly removed Mountbatten Windsor of his princely title. Charles III officially made the alteration – which had been declared a week ago – by issuing a “royal decree” which the crown office made public in the Gazette, the UK’s public registry.