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A US congressional committee probing pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein has reached out to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, formerly Britain’s Prince Andrew, asking that he submit to a deposition as part of its probe into Epstein’s wrongdoings.

In a document released on Thursday, a US representative, the leading Democrat on the House investigative committee, urged that King Charles III’s younger brother cooperate with its inquiry.

The written appeal to respond to queries comes a week after Mountbatten Windsor was relieved of his royal title and consented to vacate his rented residence in Windsor.

Files and Allegations

Mountbatten Windsor’s name is listed in papers and travel logs subpoenaed from Epstein’s estate and made public by the committee. He has also been alleged by one of Epstein’s accusers, the late Virginia Giuffre, of misconduct.

“The committee will examine accusations of wrongdoing by Mountbatten Windsor, and will request details on Epstein’s operations, associates, and accomplices based on the men’s long-term and well-documented friendship,” the committee said in a press release.

It requested information from Mountbatten Windsor on specifics of his friendship with Epstein, who killed himself in a New York prison cell in 2019. Andrew has repeatedly strongly denied any wrongdoing.

Content of the Request

“It has been publicly reported that your relationship with Mr Epstein commenced in 1999 and that you stayed connected through and after his 2008 guilty verdict for trafficking underage girls for sex work,” the letter said.

It continued: “It has also been claimed 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 harming underage individuals. This strong bond with Mr Epstein, coupled with the freshly uncovered 2011 electronic correspondence in which you wrote to him ‘we are in this together’, further supports our suspicion that you may have key insights about the crimes committed by Mr Epstein and his accomplices.”

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

Earlier Remarks and Collaboration

The letter comes a week after another Democrat on the committee stated: “Andrew should be summoned to appear before the panel. The public should be able to know who was abusing women and minors alongside Epstein.”

However, the representative does not possess the ability to legally require the ex-royal and Congress itself cannot oblige evidence from a foreign national.

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 lawyers and the FBI had approached Andrew’s legal team to follow up on his previous pledge that he was “prepared to help any appropriate law enforcement agency”.

“It’s reasonable for people to know whether Prince Andrew has followed through with that pledge,” the attorney said, adding that to date he had “given zero cooperation”.

Calls for Transparency

The lawmaker said in a comment that “rich and influential men have evaded accountability for far too long. Now, former Prince Andrew has the chance to be honest and secure redress for the survivors. Oversight Democrats will not cease pushing for answerability and openness for survivors of Epstein and his network of accomplices.”

Another signatory, a Virginia Democrat, said that after hearing accounts to the committee from Epstein’s survivors, as well as public reporting of released files, “it is crucial that Andrew works together with the current inquiry. If he is not guilty, then he can vindicate himself.”

The lawmaker stated further: “And if not, our investigation will show that, and the survivors will receive much-delayed accountability. The Royal Family’s actions taking away Andrew of his honors show there is more to this story.”

The letter was issued on the same day the British king publicly removed Mountbatten Windsor of his royal title. Charles III officially made the change – which had been declared a week ago – by issuing a “official document” which the crown office made public in the Gazette, the UK’s government journal.