A American legislative body investigating pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein has formally written to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, once Britain’s Prince Andrew, asking that he submit to an interview as part of its investigation into Epstein’s wrongdoings.
In a document released on Thursday, a US representative, the top Democrat on the House oversight committee, requested that King Charles III’s sibling help with its investigation.
The formal request to respond to queries comes a week after Mountbatten Windsor was relieved of his royal title and consented to surrender his leased home in Windsor.
Mountbatten Windsor’s name appears 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 survivors, the late Virginia Giuffre, of sexual assault.
“The committee will probe claims of wrongdoing by Mountbatten Windsor, and will seek details on Epstein’s activities, circle, and connections based on the men’s long-term and thoroughly recorded friendship,” the committee said in a press release.
It requested details from Mountbatten Windsor on particulars of his relationship with Epstein, who died by suicide in a New York jail cell in 2019. Andrew has repeatedly categorically denied any impropriety.
“It has been widely reported that your relationship with Mr Epstein began in 1999 and that you continued associating through and after his 2008 guilty verdict for trafficking underage girls for sex work,” the letter said.
It added: “It has also been claimed that you journeyed with Epstein to his New York property, the Queen’s residence at Balmoral, and to Mr Epstein’s personal island in the US Virgin Islands, where you have been charged of harming underage individuals. This close relationship with Mr Epstein, coupled 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 key insights about the wrongdoings committed by Mr Epstein and his co-conspirators.”
A announcement regarding the letter said it was endorsed by 13 other Democrats on the committee and demands a answer by 20 November.
The letter arrives a week after another Democrat on the committee commented: “Andrew should be summoned to appear before the committee. The people should be able to know who was abusing women and underage individuals alongside Epstein.”
However, the congressman does not have the authority to subpoena the former prince and Congress itself cannot oblige statements from a non-US citizen.
In 2020, US officials said that Mountbatten Windsor did not reply to US requests for an interview. The then US attorney for the southern district of New York said that lawyers and the FBI had approached Andrew’s lawyers 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 honored with that pledge,” the attorney said, adding that to date he had “given zero cooperation”.
The congressman said in a comment that “rich and influential men have evaded justice for far too long. Now, one-time Prince Andrew has the opportunity to be honest and provide redress for the survivors. Oversight Democrats will not stop fighting for answerability and transparency for those affected of Epstein and his network of partners.”
Another endorser, a Virginia Democrat, said that after hearing testimony to the committee from Epstein’s victims, as well as public reporting of disclosed papers, “it is crucial that Andrew assists with the ongoing inquiry. If he is blameless, then he can prove his innocence.”
The lawmaker continued: “And if not, our examination will reveal that, and the affected individuals will receive long overdue redress. The royal household’s actions removing Andrew of his titles suggest there is more to this case.”
The letter was sent on the same day the British king officially removed Mountbatten Windsor of his royal title. Charles III formally made the alteration – which had been declared a week ago – by issuing a “royal decree” which the monarch’s office made public in the Gazette, the UK’s public registry.
Elena Hartwell is a multidisciplinary artist and educator passionate about fostering creative communities in London.