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A US congressional body looking into pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein has formally written to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, formerly Britain’s Prince Andrew, asking that he participate in a deposition as part of its probe into Epstein’s wrongdoings.

In a communication published on Thursday, a US representative, the senior Democrat on the House investigative committee, requested that King Charles III’s younger brother help with its inquiry.

The official demand to respond to queries follows a week after Mountbatten Windsor was relieved of his HRH style and consented to vacate his leased home in Windsor.

Documents and Claims

Mountbatten Windsor’s name appears in papers 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 sexual assault.

“The committee will investigate allegations of wrongdoing by Mountbatten Windsor, and will request details on Epstein’s network, network, and connections based on the men’s longstanding and well-documented friendship,” the committee said in a statement.

It requested information from Mountbatten Windsor on specifics of his friendship with Epstein, who died by suicide in a New York prison cell in 2019. Andrew has repeatedly vehemently rejected any wrongdoing.

Substance of the Request

“It has been documented that your relationship with Mr Epstein commenced in 1999 and that you continued associating through and after his 2008 conviction for soliciting minors for commercial sex acts,” the letter said.

It stated further: “It has also been claimed that you went with Epstein to his New York residence, the Queen’s residence at Balmoral, and to Mr Epstein’s personal island in the US Virgin Islands, where you have been accused of assaulting underage individuals. This intimate friendship with Mr Epstein, coupled with the recently revealed 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 crimes committed by Mr Epstein and his co-conspirators.”

A statement regarding the letter said it was co-signed by 13 other Democrats on the committee and demands a reply by 20 November.

Previous Remarks and Cooperation

The letter follows a week after another Democrat on the committee commented: “Andrew should be summoned to testify before the committee. The people has the right to know who was abusing women and underage individuals alongside Epstein.”

However, the representative does not hold the authority to legally require the ex-royal and Congress itself cannot force testimony from a non-US citizen.

In 2020, US authorities said that Mountbatten Windsor did not respond to US requests for an discussion. The then US attorney for the southern district of New York said that prosecutors and the FBI had approached Andrew’s lawyers to follow up on his previous pledge that he was “prepared to help any appropriate law enforcement agency”.

“It’s fair for people to know whether Prince Andrew has followed through with that assurance,” the attorney said, adding that to date he had “provided no cooperation”.

Demands for Accountability

The congressman said in a statement that “wealthy and powerful men have escaped justice for far too long. Now, ex- Prince Andrew has the option to be honest and secure justice for the victims. Oversight Democrats will not halt pushing for answerability and clarity for those affected of Epstein and his group of partners.”

Another supporter, a Virginia Democrat, said that after listening to evidence to the committee from Epstein’s victims, as well as media coverage of leaked documents, “it is vital that Andrew works together with the active probe. If he is not guilty, then he can vindicate himself.”

The lawmaker stated further: “And if not, our investigation will show that, and the victims will receive much-delayed justice. The monarchy’s actions stripping Andrew of his styles indicate there is further to this story.”

The letter was sent on the same day the British king publicly revoked Mountbatten Windsor of his HRH style. Charles III officially made the change – which had been announced a week ago – by issuing a “letters patent” which the monarch’s office released in the Gazette, the UK’s public registry.