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

In a document published on Thursday, a lawmaker, the leading Democrat on the House investigative committee, asked that King Charles III’s sibling assist with its investigation.

The official demand to answer questions follows a week after Mountbatten Windsor was relieved of his HRH style and agreed to give up his leased home in Windsor.

Files and Accusations

Mountbatten Windsor’s name appears in records and flight logs secured from Epstein’s estate and disclosed by the committee. He has also been accused by one of Epstein’s victims, the late Virginia Giuffre, of abuse.

“The committee will examine accusations of wrongdoing by Mountbatten Windsor, and will demand details on Epstein’s operations, associates, and associates based on the men’s enduring and well-documented friendship,” the committee said in a statement.

It demanded information from Mountbatten Windsor on particulars of his relationship with Epstein, who took his own life in a New York jail cell in 2019. Andrew has repeatedly strongly denied any misconduct.

Details of the Communication

“It has been widely reported that your relationship with Mr Epstein commenced in 1999 and that you continued associating through and after his 2008 guilty verdict for procuring minors for prostitution,” the letter said.

It continued: “It has also been claimed that you went with Epstein to his New York property, the Queen’s residence at Balmoral, and to Mr Epstein’s private island in the US Virgin Islands, where you have been accused of assaulting young girls. This intimate friendship with Mr Epstein, along with the newly disclosed 2011 electronic correspondence in which you wrote to him ‘we are in this together’, further bolsters our belief that you may have important details about the offenses committed by Mr Epstein and his co-conspirators.”

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

Earlier Comments and Collaboration

The letter arrives a week after another Democrat on the committee stated: “Andrew should be summoned to appear before the panel. The citizens deserves to know who was harming women and underage individuals alongside Epstein.”

However, the lawmaker does not hold the authority to subpoena the former prince and Congress itself cannot compel statements from a foreign national.

In 2020, US authorities 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 lawyers and the FBI had contacted Andrew’s lawyers to inquire on his previous pledge that he was “prepared to help any relevant law enforcement agency”.

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

Calls for Justice

The representative said in a comment that “wealthy and well-connected men have escaped accountability for far too long. Now, former Prince Andrew has the option to be honest and provide accountability for the victims. Oversight Democrats will not cease fighting for answerability and clarity for those affected of Epstein and his gang of accomplices.”

Another signatory, a Virginia Democrat, said that after listening to accounts to the committee from Epstein’s victims, as well as news accounts of leaked documents, “it is essential that Andrew assists with the current probe. If he is innocent, then he can prove his innocence.”

The lawmaker stated further: “And if not, our probe will reveal that, and the victims will receive much-delayed accountability. The monarchy’s actions removing Andrew of his honors suggest there is more to this story.”

The letter came on the same day the British king officially revoked Mountbatten Windsor of his princely title. Charles III officially made the change – which had been announced a week ago – by issuing a “royal decree” which the monarch’s office released in the Gazette, the UK’s public registry.