London (AFP) – US lawmakers wrote to Britain’s disgraced former prince Andrew on Thursday requesting he sit for an interview about his friendship with the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The letter was disclosed as King Charles III formally stripped his younger brother of his titles after last week’s announcement that Andrew was being banished from the monarchy.
Sixteen Democratic Party members of Congress signed a letter asking Andrew to participate in a “transcribed interview” with the House of Representatives oversight committee investigating Epstein, who took his own life in 2019 while facing sex trafficking charges. “The committee is seeking to uncover the identities of Mr Epstein’s co-conspirators and enablers and to understand the full extent of his criminal operations,” the letter read. “Well-documented allegations against you, along with your long-standing friendship with Mr Epstein, indicate that you may possess knowledge of his activities relevant to our investigation.”
The letter asked Andrew, now known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, to respond by November 20. It was signed by Democrats who are in a minority in the House. US Congress also has no power to compel testimony from foreigners, making it unlikely that Andrew will give evidence. A spokesperson for the former prince did not immediately respond to a request for comment from AFP.
Emails recently released by the committee, as well as a posthumous memoir written by Andrew’s sexual assault accuser Virginia Giuffre, reignited UK anger over Andrew’s ties to Epstein. It culminated in Charles deciding to remove all of Andrew’s royal titles and honours and announcing that he would be ousted from his 30-room mansion on the royal estate at Windsor, west of London. Charles has formally made the changes with an announcement published Wednesday in The Gazette, the UK’s official public record.
Andrew has always denied that he sexually abused Giuffre, who alleged that she was trafficked to have sex with him on three occasions, twice when she was just 17. After she launched a lawsuit against him, he paid her a multi-million-pound settlement in 2022 without making any admission of guilt. Giuffre, a US and Australian citizen, died by suicide at her home in Australia in April.
© 2024 AFP
