🔗 Share this article

A US congressional committee looking into pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein has reached out to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, previously Britain’s Prince Andrew, requesting that he undergo an interview as part of its inquiry into Epstein’s criminal operations.

In a document made public on Thursday, a US representative, the top Democrat on the House oversight committee, requested that King Charles III’s sibling cooperate with its probe.

The formal request to respond to queries follows a week after Mountbatten Windsor was lost his HRH style and consented to surrender his rented residence in Windsor.

Documents and Allegations

Mountbatten Windsor’s name appears in documents and aviation records subpoenaed from Epstein’s estate and publicly released by the committee. He has also been charged by one of Epstein’s victims, the late Virginia Giuffre, of abuse.

“The oversight committee will examine claims of abuse by Mountbatten Windsor, and will demand details on Epstein’s activities, circle, and associates based on the men’s longstanding and well-documented friendship,” the committee said in a press release.

It sought particulars from Mountbatten Windsor on details of his friendship with Epstein, who died by suicide in a New York jail cell in 2019. Andrew has always vehemently rejected any wrongdoing.

Content of the Communication

“It has been widely reported that your relationship with Mr Epstein started in 1999 and that you remained close through and after his 2008 sentencing for trafficking underage girls for prostitution,” the letter said.

It added: “It has also been reported that you went with Epstein to his New York home, the Queen’s estate at Balmoral, and to Mr Epstein’s secluded island in the US Virgin Islands, where you have been alleged of assaulting young girls. This close relationship with Mr Epstein, along with the newly disclosed 2011 email exchange in which you wrote to him ‘we are in this together’, further bolsters our belief that you may have key insights about the offenses committed by Mr Epstein and his accomplices.”

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

Earlier Remarks 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 citizens has the right to know who was harming women and young girls alongside Epstein.”

However, the congressman does not hold the power to compel the ex-royal and Congress itself cannot compel statements from a foreign national.

In 2020, US agencies said that Mountbatten Windsor did not reply to US requests for an meeting. The then US attorney for the southern district of New York said that authorities and the FBI had contacted Andrew’s attorneys to check on his earlier promise that he was “willing to help any appropriate law enforcement agency”.

“It’s reasonable for people to know whether Prince Andrew has honored with that assurance,” the attorney said, adding that to date he had “provided zero cooperation”.

Demands for Justice

The representative said in a statement that “wealthy and powerful men have escaped the law for far too long. Now, ex- Prince Andrew has the option to come clean and secure accountability for the survivors. We will not stop fighting for accountability and openness for those affected of Epstein and his group of partners.”

Another signatory, a Virginia Democrat, said that after listening to testimony 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 investigation. If he is blameless, then he can vindicate himself.”

The lawmaker stated further: “And if not, our examination will reveal that, and the affected individuals will receive much-delayed accountability. The royal household’s actions taking away Andrew of his titles indicate there is further to this situation.”

The letter was issued on the same day the British king officially revoked Mountbatten Windsor of his HRH style. Charles III publicly made the alteration – which had been announced a week ago – by issuing a “letters patent” which the crown office released in the Gazette, the UK’s official public record.