A US congressional body investigating sex offender financier Jeffrey Epstein has sent a letter to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, once Britain’s Prince Andrew, requesting that he participate in an interview as part of its investigation into Epstein’s illegal activities.
In a communication released on Thursday, a lawmaker, the senior Democrat on the House oversight committee, asked that King Charles III’s sibling assist with its inquiry.
The written appeal to answer questions arrives a week after Mountbatten Windsor was relieved of his HRH style and consented to give up his property in Windsor.
Mountbatten Windsor’s name features in papers and travel logs secured from Epstein’s estate and disclosed by the committee. He has also been charged by one of Epstein’s victims, the late Virginia Giuffre, of sexual assault.
“The committee will investigate allegations of abuse by Mountbatten Windsor, and will seek information on Epstein’s activities, associates, and connections based on the men’s longstanding and thoroughly recorded friendship,” the committee said in a statement.
It requested particulars from Mountbatten Windsor on details of his association with Epstein, who took his own life in a New York prison cell in 2019. Andrew has consistently categorically denied any impropriety.
“It has been publicly reported that your association with Mr Epstein began in 1999 and that you remained close through and after his 2008 conviction for procuring minors for commercial sex acts,” the letter said.
It stated further: “It has also been reported that you traveled with Epstein to his New York property, the Queen’s home at Balmoral, and to Mr Epstein’s private island in the US Virgin Islands, where you have been alleged of assaulting underage individuals. This close relationship with Mr Epstein, along with the freshly uncovered 2011 email exchange in which you wrote to him ‘we are in this together’, further confirms our concern that you may have key insights about the offenses committed by Mr Epstein and his accomplices.”
A notification regarding the letter said it was supported by 13 other Democrats on the committee and demands a reply by 20 November.
The letter arrives a week after another Democrat on the committee stated: “Andrew should be summoned to appear before the committee. The citizens deserves to know who was harming women and underage individuals alongside Epstein.”
However, the representative does not have the authority to legally require the former prince and Congress itself cannot compel evidence from a non-US citizen.
In 2020, US officials said that Mountbatten Windsor failed to cooperate to US demands for an meeting. The then US attorney for the southern district of New York said that prosecutors and the FBI had contacted Andrew’s attorneys to inquire on his public commitment that he was “willing to help any relevant law enforcement agency”.
“It’s fair for people to know whether Prince Andrew has honored with that public commitment,” the attorney said, adding that to date he had “given zero cooperation”.
The lawmaker said in a comment that “wealthy and powerful men have avoided accountability for far too long. Now, former Prince Andrew has the option to come clean and provide accountability for the victims. We will not stop pushing for accountability and transparency for those affected of Epstein and his network of accomplices.”
Another signatory, a Virginia Democrat, said that after receiving accounts to the committee from Epstein’s victims, as well as public reporting of released files, “it is vital that Andrew cooperates with the active investigation. If he is blameless, then he can vindicate himself.”
The lawmaker continued: “And if not, our probe will reveal that, and the victims will receive long overdue accountability. The monarchy’s actions taking away Andrew of his titles indicate there is more to this case.”
The letter was issued on the same day the British king officially stripped Mountbatten Windsor of his royal title. Charles III formally made the change – which had been announced a week ago – by issuing a “official document” which the crown office published in the Gazette, the UK’s public registry.
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