Congressional Panel Requests Questioning with the Duke of York in Jeffrey Epstein Inquiry

A American legislative panel looking into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has sent a letter to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, previously Britain’s Prince Andrew, demanding that he submit to questioning as part of its inquiry into Epstein’s wrongdoings.

In a document made public on Thursday, a US representative, the leading Democrat on the House oversight committee, requested that King Charles III’s younger brother assist with its investigation.

The formal request to respond to queries follows a week after Mountbatten Windsor was relieved of his HRH style and opted to vacate his leased home in Windsor.

Records and Accusations

Mountbatten Windsor’s name appears in records and flight logs secured from Epstein’s estate and publicly released by the committee. He has also been accused by one of Epstein’s accusers, the late Virginia Giuffre, of sexual assault.

“The panel will examine allegations of abuse by Mountbatten Windsor, and will demand information on Epstein’s activities, circle, and accomplices based on the men’s long-term and well-documented friendship,” the committee said in a statement.

It requested details 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 always vehemently rejected any impropriety.

Substance of the Request

“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 soliciting minors for sex work,” the letter said.

It added: “It has also been alleged that you went with Epstein to his New York property, the Queen’s estate at Balmoral, and to Mr Epstein’s private island in the US Virgin Islands, where you have been charged of abusing young girls. This intimate friendship with Mr Epstein, along with the freshly uncovered 2011 email exchange in which you wrote to him ‘we are in this together’, further supports our concern that you may have valuable information about the offenses committed by Mr Epstein and his partners in crime.”

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

Earlier Comments and Assistance

The letter arrives a week after another Democrat on the committee told: “Andrew should be asked to appear before the panel. The citizens deserves to know who was assaulting women and young girls alongside Epstein.”

However, the congressman does not possess the power to subpoena the duke and Congress itself cannot compel statements from a foreign national.

In 2020, US officials said that Mountbatten Windsor did not respond to US demands for an meeting. The then US attorney for the southern district of New York said that prosecutors and the FBI had reached out to 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 fulfilled with that public commitment,” the attorney said, adding that to date he had “provided zero cooperation”.

Demands for Justice

The congressman said in a comment that “wealthy and well-connected men have avoided the law for far too long. Now, former Prince Andrew has the option to tell the truth and secure redress for the survivors. Oversight Democrats will not halt pushing for accountability and transparency for victims of Epstein and his group of co-conspirators.”

Another signatory, a Virginia Democrat, said that after hearing evidence to the committee from Epstein’s accusers, as well as media coverage of disclosed papers, “it is crucial that Andrew cooperates with the ongoing investigation. If he is blameless, then he can prove his innocence.”

The lawmaker added: “And if not, our investigation will show that, and the victims will receive belated accountability. The monarchy’s actions taking away Andrew of his titles show there is further to this story.”

The letter came on the same day the British king formally revoked Mountbatten Windsor of his princely title. Charles III formally made the alteration – which had been declared a week ago – by issuing a “royal decree” which the royal office released in the Gazette, the UK’s government journal.