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A US congressional panel probing sex offender financier Jeffrey Epstein has sent a letter to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, previously Britain’s Prince Andrew, requesting that he participate in a deposition as part of its probe into Epstein’s criminal operations.

In a communication made public on Thursday, a lawmaker, the senior Democrat on the House investigative committee, asked that King Charles III’s brother cooperate with its investigation.

The official demand to answer questions arrives a week after Mountbatten Windsor was stripped of his royal title and agreed to give up his rented residence in Windsor.

Files and Allegations

Mountbatten Windsor’s name appears in papers and flight logs subpoenaed from Epstein’s estate and publicly released by the committee. He has also been charged by one of Epstein’s victims, the late Virginia Giuffre, of misconduct.

“The oversight committee will probe allegations of wrongdoing by Mountbatten Windsor, and will demand information on Epstein’s activities, network, and accomplices based on the men’s longstanding and well-documented friendship,” the committee said in a press release.

It requested details from Mountbatten Windsor on specifics of his association with Epstein, who killed himself in a New York jail cell in 2019. Andrew has always categorically denied any impropriety.

Details of the Communication

“It has been widely reported that your friendship with Mr Epstein commenced in 1999 and that you stayed connected through and after his 2008 sentencing for procuring minors for sex work,” the letter said.

It continued: “It has also been alleged that you went with Epstein to his New York home, the Queen’s estate at Balmoral, and to Mr Epstein’s private island in the US Virgin Islands, where you have been accused of abusing minors. This close relationship with Mr Epstein, coupled with the newly disclosed 2011 digital communication in which you wrote to him ‘we are in this together’, further bolsters our belief that you may have valuable information about the offenses committed by Mr Epstein and his accomplices.”

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

Past Statements and Collaboration

The letter comes a week after another Democrat on the committee commented: “Andrew should be asked to appear before the panel. The people has the right to know who was harming women and underage individuals alongside Epstein.”

However, the lawmaker does not hold the ability to legally require the duke and Congress itself cannot oblige testimony from a non-US citizen.

In 2020, US officials said that Mountbatten Windsor did not respond to US requests for an meeting. The then US attorney for the southern district of New York said that authorities and the FBI had approached Andrew’s legal team to inquire on his public commitment that he was “willing to help any suitable law enforcement agency”.

“It’s just for people to know whether Prince Andrew has honored with that pledge,” the attorney said, adding that to date he had “given no cooperation”.

Appeals for Justice

The representative said in a comment that “affluent and influential men have escaped accountability for far too long. Now, former Prince Andrew has the chance to tell the truth and provide accountability for the survivors. Oversight Democrats will not halt pushing for answerability and openness for survivors of Epstein and his gang of partners.”

Another endorser, a Virginia Democrat, said that after listening to testimony to the committee from Epstein’s victims, as well as media coverage of leaked documents, “it is crucial that Andrew assists with the ongoing investigation. If he is blameless, then he can clear his name.”

The lawmaker added: “And if not, our examination will reveal that, and the survivors will receive much-delayed justice. The monarchy’s actions stripping Andrew of his styles show there is further to this situation.”

The letter came on the same day the British king formally removed Mountbatten Windsor of his HRH style. Charles III officially made the alteration – which had been announced a week ago – by issuing a “letters patent” which the monarch’s office released in the Gazette, the UK’s government journal.