House Committee Requests Questioning with Prince Andrew in Jeffrey Epstein Probe
A US congressional committee looking into sex offender financier Jeffrey Epstein has reached out to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, formerly Britain’s Prince Andrew, demanding that he participate in questioning as part of its probe into Epstein’s wrongdoings.
In a communication released on Thursday, a US representative, the leading Democrat on the House oversight committee, requested that King Charles III’s brother assist with its inquiry.
The written appeal to provide testimony arrives a week after Mountbatten Windsor was relieved of his HRH style and agreed to vacate his rented residence in Windsor.
Records and Allegations
Mountbatten Windsor’s name features in records and travel logs obtained from Epstein’s estate and publicly released by the committee. He has also been accused by one of Epstein’s survivors, the late Virginia Giuffre, of misconduct.
“The committee will probe claims of misconduct by Mountbatten Windsor, and will seek data on Epstein’s network, network, and accomplices based on the men’s longstanding and well-documented friendship,” the committee said in a announcement.
It requested information from Mountbatten Windsor on details of his friendship with Epstein, who died by suicide in a New York detention facility in 2019. Andrew has repeatedly strongly denied any wrongdoing.
Substance of the Letter
“It has been documented that your association with Mr Epstein started in 1999 and that you continued associating through and after his 2008 conviction for soliciting minors for prostitution,” the letter said.
It continued: “It has also been alleged that you traveled with Epstein to his New York home, the Queen’s home at Balmoral, and to Mr Epstein’s secluded island in the US Virgin Islands, where you have been accused of abusing young girls. This intimate friendship with Mr Epstein, along with the newly disclosed 2011 electronic correspondence in which you wrote to him ‘we are in this together’, further supports our concern that you may have valuable information about the wrongdoings committed by Mr Epstein and his accomplices.”
A announcement regarding the letter said it was supported by 13 other Democrats on the committee and requests a reply by 20 November.
Earlier Comments and Assistance
The letter comes a week after another Democrat on the committee told: “Andrew should be asked to testify before the oversight committee. The public should be able to know who was assaulting women and underage individuals alongside Epstein.”
However, the lawmaker does not possess the power to legally require the former prince and Congress itself cannot oblige evidence from a non-US citizen.
In 2020, US officials said that Mountbatten Windsor failed to 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 check on his previous pledge that he was “willing to help any relevant law enforcement agency”.
“It’s fair for people to know whether Prince Andrew has fulfilled with that pledge,” the attorney said, adding that to date he had “provided absolutely no cooperation”.
Appeals for Accountability
The representative said in a comment that “affluent and influential men have evaded justice for far too long. Now, former Prince Andrew has the option to tell the truth and provide redress for the survivors. We will not stop pushing for responsibility and clarity for survivors of Epstein and his group of co-conspirators.”
Another signatory, a Virginia Democrat, said that after hearing accounts to the committee from Epstein’s survivors, as well as public reporting of disclosed papers, “it is vital that Andrew works together with the active probe. If he is not guilty, then he can prove his innocence.”
The lawmaker added: “And if not, our probe will reveal that, and the affected individuals will receive long overdue accountability. The Royal Family’s actions taking away Andrew of his styles show there is further to this situation.”
The letter was issued on the same day the British king officially stripped Mountbatten Windsor of his HRH style. Charles III publicly made the alteration – which had been revealed a week ago – by issuing a “official document” which the crown office made public in the Gazette, the UK’s public registry.
