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A US congressional body probing convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has sent a letter to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, once Britain’s Prince Andrew, asking that he undergo a deposition as part of its inquiry into Epstein’s criminal operations.

In a communication released on Thursday, a US representative, the leading Democrat on the House investigative committee, urged that King Charles III’s sibling help with its inquiry.

The official demand to provide testimony follows a week after Mountbatten Windsor was lost his princely title and consented to surrender his property in Windsor.

Documents and Allegations

Mountbatten Windsor’s name is listed in records and travel logs secured from Epstein’s estate and made public by the committee. He has also been charged by one of Epstein’s victims, the late Virginia Giuffre, of abuse.

“The oversight committee will probe allegations of wrongdoing by Mountbatten Windsor, and will seek details on Epstein’s network, circle, and connections based on the men’s longstanding and thoroughly recorded friendship,” the committee said in a press release.

It requested details from Mountbatten Windsor on particulars of his association with Epstein, who died by suicide in a New York prison cell in 2019. Andrew has repeatedly vehemently rejected any misconduct.

Substance of the Communication

“It has been publicly reported that your friendship with Mr Epstein started in 1999 and that you continued associating through and after his 2008 guilty verdict for procuring minors for sex work,” the letter said.

It continued: “It has also been reported that you traveled with Epstein to his New York home, the Queen’s residence at Balmoral, and to Mr Epstein’s personal island in the US Virgin Islands, where you have been accused of abusing underage individuals. This close relationship with Mr Epstein, along with the freshly uncovered 2011 electronic correspondence in which you wrote to him ‘we are in this together’, further supports our concern that you may have important details about the wrongdoings committed by Mr Epstein and his partners in crime.”

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

Earlier Comments and Assistance

The letter comes a week after another Democrat on the committee commented: “Andrew should be asked to appear before the oversight committee. The citizens deserves to know who was harming women and minors alongside Epstein.”

However, the lawmaker does not possess the authority to subpoena the duke and Congress itself cannot force evidence from a non-US citizen.

In 2020, US agencies said that Mountbatten Windsor neglected to reply to US demands for an meeting. The then US attorney for the southern district of New York said that lawyers and the FBI had reached out to Andrew’s legal team to inquire on his public commitment that he was “willing to help any suitable 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 “offered no cooperation”.

Calls for Transparency

The lawmaker said in a comment that “rich and well-connected men have avoided the law for far too long. Now, ex- Prince Andrew has the chance to come clean and secure redress for the affected individuals. We will not cease fighting for answerability and openness for those affected of Epstein and his gang of co-conspirators.”

Another signatory, a Virginia Democrat, said that after listening to accounts to the committee from Epstein’s victims, as well as news accounts of disclosed papers, “it is crucial that Andrew assists with the active investigation. If he is not guilty, then he can prove his innocence.”

The lawmaker stated further: “And if not, our investigation will reveal that, and the survivors will receive much-delayed justice. The royal household’s actions taking away Andrew of his titles show there is additional to this story.”

The letter was issued on the same day the British king publicly stripped Mountbatten Windsor of his royal title. Charles III formally made the change – which had been revealed a week ago – by issuing a “royal decree” which the royal office made public in the Gazette, the UK’s official public record.