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A US congressional panel probing convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has reached out to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, once Britain’s Prince Andrew, demanding that he participate in an interview as part of its investigation into Epstein’s criminal operations.

In a document released on Thursday, a US representative, the senior Democrat on the House investigative committee, asked that King Charles III’s sibling help with its investigation.

The official demand to respond to queries arrives a week after Mountbatten Windsor was relieved of his royal title and consented to surrender his property in Windsor.

Files and Accusations

Mountbatten Windsor’s name is listed in documents and flight 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 committee will investigate allegations of wrongdoing by Mountbatten Windsor, and will seek information on Epstein’s activities, associates, and connections based on the men’s long-term and thoroughly recorded friendship,” the committee said in a announcement.

It demanded particulars from Mountbatten Windsor on particulars of his relationship with Epstein, who died by suicide in a New York prison cell in 2019. Andrew has repeatedly categorically denied any impropriety.

Details of the Communication

“It has been documented that your relationship with Mr Epstein started in 1999 and that you stayed connected through and after his 2008 conviction for trafficking underage girls for sex work,” the letter said.

It added: “It has also been alleged that you went 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 alleged of abusing minors. This strong bond with Mr Epstein, combined with the recently revealed 2011 electronic correspondence in which you wrote to him ‘we are in this together’, further confirms our suspicion that you may have valuable information about the offenses committed by Mr Epstein and his partners in crime.”

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

Earlier Statements and Cooperation

The letter follows a week after another Democrat on the committee commented: “Andrew should be summoned to testify before the oversight committee. The citizens has the right to know who was harming women and minors alongside Epstein.”

However, the lawmaker does not have the power to legally require the duke and Congress itself cannot compel statements from a foreign national.

In 2020, US authorities said that Mountbatten Windsor did not reply to US appeals for an interview. The then US attorney for the southern district of New York said that prosecutors and the FBI had approached Andrew’s attorneys to check on his public commitment that he was “willing to help any appropriate law enforcement agency”.

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

Appeals for Transparency

The lawmaker said in a comment that “affluent and well-connected men have evaded accountability for far too long. Now, one-time Prince Andrew has the option to be honest and deliver justice for the victims. We will not halt advocating for responsibility and transparency for victims of Epstein and his network of co-conspirators.”

Another signatory, 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 assists with the current inquiry. If he is not guilty, then he can vindicate himself.”

The lawmaker added: “And if not, our examination will reveal that, and the victims will receive belated justice. The Royal Family’s actions removing Andrew of his titles indicate there is additional to this situation.”

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