🔗 Share this article

A American legislative committee investigating pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein has formally written to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, once Britain’s Prince Andrew, requesting that he participate in an interview as part of its probe into Epstein’s wrongdoings.

In a communication released on Thursday, a lawmaker, the top Democrat on the House oversight committee, requested that King Charles III’s sibling help with its investigation.

The written appeal to provide testimony arrives a week after Mountbatten Windsor was lost his princely title and opted to surrender his leased home in Windsor.

Records and Allegations

Mountbatten Windsor’s name features in documents and aviation records secured from Epstein’s estate and disclosed by the committee. He has also been accused by one of Epstein’s accusers, the late Virginia Giuffre, of abuse.

“The oversight committee will investigate allegations of misconduct by Mountbatten Windsor, and will request information on Epstein’s operations, network, and accomplices based on the men’s enduring and thoroughly recorded friendship,” the committee said in a statement.

It requested information from Mountbatten Windsor on specifics of his friendship with Epstein, who died by suicide in a New York jail cell in 2019. Andrew has always strongly denied any wrongdoing.

Details of the Letter

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

It stated further: “It has also been claimed that you traveled with Epstein to his New York property, the Queen’s estate at Balmoral, and to Mr Epstein’s secluded island in the US Virgin Islands, where you have been charged of assaulting young girls. This intimate friendship with Mr Epstein, along with the freshly uncovered 2011 digital communication in which you wrote to him ‘we are in this together’, further supports our concern that you may have key insights about the offenses committed by Mr Epstein and his co-conspirators.”

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

Earlier Comments and Collaboration

The letter comes a week after another Democrat on the committee commented: “Andrew should be summoned to give evidence before the panel. The public has the right to know who was abusing women and young girls alongside Epstein.”

However, the representative does not hold the authority to subpoena the ex-royal and Congress itself cannot compel evidence from a overseas individual.

In 2020, US authorities said that Mountbatten Windsor neglected to respond to US demands for an discussion. The then US attorney for the southern district of New York said that lawyers and the FBI had reached out to Andrew’s attorneys to inquire on his earlier promise that he was “willing to help any relevant law enforcement agency”.

“It’s reasonable for people to know whether Prince Andrew has fulfilled with that public commitment,” the attorney said, adding that to date he had “offered zero cooperation”.

Calls for Accountability

The representative said in a statement that “wealthy and powerful men have escaped accountability for far too long. Now, one-time Prince Andrew has the opportunity to come clean and provide redress for the survivors. Oversight Democrats will not cease pushing for accountability and openness for survivors of Epstein and his group of accomplices.”

Another signatory, a Virginia Democrat, said that after receiving accounts to the committee from Epstein’s victims, as well as news accounts of leaked documents, “it is essential that Andrew works together with the active investigation. If he is blameless, then he can vindicate himself.”

The lawmaker continued: “And if not, our probe will demonstrate that, and the affected individuals will receive long overdue redress. The royal household’s actions taking away Andrew of his honors show there is additional to this story.”

The letter came on the same day the British king publicly removed Mountbatten Windsor of his HRH style. 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 government journal.