🔗 Share this article

A US congressional body investigating sex offender financier Jeffrey Epstein has sent a letter to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, previously Britain’s Prince Andrew, requesting that he undergo questioning as part of its probe into Epstein’s wrongdoings.

In a document made public on Thursday, a California congressman, the top Democrat on the House oversight committee, urged that King Charles III’s sibling help with its probe.

The official demand to respond to queries follows a week after Mountbatten Windsor was relieved of his royal title and agreed to surrender his leased home in Windsor.

Files and Claims

Mountbatten Windsor’s name features in papers and travel logs subpoenaed from Epstein’s estate and made public by the committee. He has also been accused by one of Epstein’s victims, the late Virginia Giuffre, of abuse.

“The panel will probe allegations of wrongdoing by Mountbatten Windsor, and will request details on Epstein’s network, associates, and associates based on the men’s long-term and well-documented friendship,” the committee said in a announcement.

It demanded details from Mountbatten Windsor on specifics of his relationship with Epstein, who died by suicide in a New York jail cell in 2019. Andrew has consistently vehemently rejected any misconduct.

Details of the Request

“It has been documented that your association with Mr Epstein started in 1999 and that you stayed connected through and after his 2008 guilty verdict for procuring minors for sex work,” the letter said.

It continued: “It has also been claimed that you traveled with Epstein to his New York residence, the Queen’s residence at Balmoral, and to Mr Epstein’s private island in the US Virgin Islands, where you have been charged of abusing minors. This close relationship 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 concern that you may have key insights about the crimes committed by Mr Epstein and his partners in crime.”

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

Earlier Statements and Assistance

The letter comes a week after another Democrat on the committee commented: “Andrew should be called to appear before the oversight committee. The citizens has the right to know who was assaulting women and young girls alongside Epstein.”

However, the lawmaker does not hold the power to subpoena the ex-royal and Congress itself cannot compel statements from a non-US citizen.

In 2020, US agencies said that Mountbatten Windsor did not cooperate to US demands for an meeting. The then US attorney for the southern district of New York said that authorities and the FBI had reached out to Andrew’s attorneys 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 pledge,” the attorney said, adding that to date he had “provided zero cooperation”.

Calls for Justice

The congressman said in a announcement that “wealthy and powerful men have evaded the law for far too long. Now, ex- Prince Andrew has the opportunity to be honest and secure justice for the affected individuals. We will not stop advocating for answerability and openness for survivors of Epstein and his group of co-conspirators.”

Another supporter, a Virginia Democrat, said that after listening to testimony to the committee from Epstein’s accusers, as well as news accounts of disclosed papers, “it is vital that Andrew works together with the ongoing probe. If he is not guilty, then he can clear his name.”

The lawmaker continued: “And if not, our examination will show that, and the survivors will receive much-delayed accountability. The monarchy’s actions removing Andrew of his titles show there is further to this case.”

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