🔗 Share this article

A American legislative body investigating pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein has formally written to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, once Britain’s Prince Andrew, requesting that he submit to questioning as part of its inquiry into Epstein’s illegal activities.

In a document published on Thursday, a lawmaker, the top Democrat on the House investigative committee, requested that King Charles III’s younger brother help with its inquiry.

The written appeal to provide testimony follows a week after Mountbatten Windsor was stripped of his princely title and agreed to give up his property in Windsor.

Records and Allegations

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

“The committee will probe accusations of abuse by Mountbatten Windsor, and will request details on Epstein’s activities, associates, and associates based on the men’s long-term and extensively reported friendship,” the committee said in a announcement.

It requested information from Mountbatten Windsor on details of his friendship with Epstein, who killed himself in a New York prison cell in 2019. Andrew has repeatedly strongly denied any misconduct.

Details of the Request

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

It continued: “It has also been claimed that you journeyed 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 abusing underage individuals. This strong bond with Mr Epstein, along with the newly disclosed 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 wrongdoings committed by Mr Epstein and his accomplices.”

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

Previous Remarks and Collaboration

The letter arrives a week after another Democrat on the committee told: “Andrew should be summoned to testify before the panel. The people should be able to know who was assaulting women and young girls alongside Epstein.”

However, the lawmaker does not hold the power to subpoena the former prince and Congress itself cannot force evidence from a foreign national.

In 2020, US agencies said that Mountbatten Windsor did not cooperate to US demands for an interview. The then US attorney for the southern district of New York said that prosecutors and the FBI had approached Andrew’s lawyers to check on his earlier promise that he was “ready to help any appropriate law enforcement agency”.

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

Demands for Transparency

The congressman said in a statement that “affluent and powerful men have escaped accountability for far too long. Now, former Prince Andrew has the chance to tell the truth and secure justice for the survivors. We will not stop advocating for answerability and clarity for survivors of Epstein and his gang of accomplices.”

Another signatory, a Virginia Democrat, said that after listening to accounts to the committee from Epstein’s accusers, as well as media coverage of leaked documents, “it is vital that Andrew cooperates with the ongoing probe. If he is innocent, then he can clear his name.”

The lawmaker stated further: “And if not, our probe will demonstrate that, and the affected individuals will receive belated redress. The monarchy’s actions removing Andrew of his titles suggest there is additional to this story.”

The letter was issued on the same day the British king publicly revoked Mountbatten Windsor of his royal title. Charles III officially made the change – which had been declared a week ago – by issuing a “royal decree” which the royal office published in the Gazette, the UK’s government journal.