House Committee Asks for Questioning with the Duke of York in Epstein Probe

A US congressional committee investigating convicted sex offender 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 inquiry into Epstein’s illegal activities.

In a communication released on Thursday, a lawmaker, the senior Democrat on the House oversight panel, requested that King Charles III’s brother cooperate with its investigation.

The official demand to respond to queries follows a week after Mountbatten Windsor was lost his HRH style and agreed to vacate his leased home in Windsor.

Records and Claims

Mountbatten Windsor’s name appears in documents and travel logs obtained from Epstein’s estate and made public by the committee. He has also been alleged by one of Epstein’s accusers, the late Virginia Giuffre, of sexual assault.

“The oversight committee will probe allegations of wrongdoing by Mountbatten Windsor, and will seek data on Epstein’s activities, circle, and accomplices based on the men’s long-term and thoroughly recorded friendship,” the committee said in a statement.

It sought details from Mountbatten Windsor on particulars 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.

Content of the Communication

“It has been publicly reported that your friendship with Mr Epstein commenced in 1999 and that you remained close through and after his 2008 guilty verdict for procuring minors for prostitution,” the letter said.

It stated further: “It has also been alleged that you journeyed with Epstein to his New York property, the Queen’s estate at Balmoral, and to Mr Epstein’s personal island in the US Virgin Islands, where you have been alleged of abusing minors. This strong bond 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 belief that you may have valuable information about the offenses committed by Mr Epstein and his co-conspirators.”

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

Previous Remarks and Cooperation

The letter arrives a week after another Democrat on the committee told: “Andrew should be called to appear before the oversight committee. The people has the right to know who was abusing women and underage individuals alongside Epstein.”

However, the congressman does not possess the ability to subpoena the ex-royal and Congress itself cannot compel testimony from a overseas individual.

In 2020, US authorities said that Mountbatten Windsor neglected 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 legal team to check on his public commitment that he was “prepared to help any appropriate law enforcement agency”.

“It’s just for people to know whether Prince Andrew has followed through with that pledge,” the attorney said, adding that to date he had “given zero cooperation”.

Demands for Justice

The lawmaker said in a announcement that “wealthy and influential men have escaped justice for far too long. Now, former Prince Andrew has the opportunity to be honest and deliver accountability for the survivors. Oversight Democrats will not halt advocating for responsibility and openness for victims of Epstein and his gang of partners.”

Another endorser, a Virginia Democrat, said that after hearing accounts to the committee from Epstein’s victims, as well as news accounts of disclosed papers, “it is vital that Andrew cooperates with the active probe. If he is blameless, then he can vindicate himself.”

The lawmaker stated further: “And if not, our investigation will reveal that, and the survivors will receive belated accountability. The monarchy’s actions removing Andrew of his honors suggest there is further to this story.”

The letter came on the same day the British king formally stripped Mountbatten Windsor of his princely title. Charles III publicly made the change – which had been revealed a week ago – by issuing a “letters patent” which the monarch’s office released in the Gazette, the UK’s public registry.