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A US congressional panel looking into pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein has reached out to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, previously Britain’s Prince Andrew, asking that he submit to a deposition as part of its inquiry into Epstein’s criminal operations.

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

The official demand to respond to queries follows a week after Mountbatten Windsor was stripped of his royal title and consented to vacate his rented residence in Windsor.

Files and Accusations

Mountbatten Windsor’s name is listed in documents and flight logs subpoenaed from Epstein’s estate and publicly released by the committee. He has also been accused by one of Epstein’s victims, the late Virginia Giuffre, of abuse.

“The committee will examine claims of abuse by Mountbatten Windsor, and will demand data on Epstein’s operations, circle, and accomplices based on the men’s longstanding and thoroughly recorded friendship,” the committee said in a statement.

It demanded particulars from Mountbatten Windsor on details of his relationship with Epstein, who killed himself in a New York jail cell in 2019. Andrew has consistently strongly denied any misconduct.

Details of the Request

“It has been publicly reported that your relationship with Mr Epstein began in 1999 and that you remained close through and after his 2008 conviction for soliciting minors for commercial sex acts,” the letter said.

It continued: “It has also been reported that you went 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 assaulting minors. This close relationship with Mr Epstein, combined with the freshly uncovered 2011 electronic correspondence in which you wrote to him ‘we are in this together’, further confirms our suspicion that you may have key insights about the offenses committed by Mr Epstein and his co-conspirators.”

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

Previous Remarks and Cooperation

The letter comes a week after another Democrat on the committee stated: “Andrew should be summoned to testify before the oversight committee. The people has the right to know who was abusing women and young girls alongside Epstein.”

However, the lawmaker does not possess the ability to legally require the ex-royal and Congress itself cannot compel evidence from a non-US citizen.

In 2020, US agencies said that Mountbatten Windsor failed to respond to US demands for an meeting. The then US attorney for the southern district of New York said that authorities and the FBI had contacted Andrew’s lawyers to follow up on his public commitment that he was “willing to help any appropriate law enforcement agency”.

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

Calls for Transparency

The lawmaker said in a announcement that “affluent and influential men have evaded justice for far too long. Now, former Prince Andrew has the option to come clean and secure redress for the survivors. Oversight Democrats will not stop pushing for answerability and clarity for survivors of Epstein and his network of partners.”

Another endorser, a Virginia Democrat, said that after listening to evidence to the committee from Epstein’s survivors, as well as public reporting of disclosed papers, “it is essential that Andrew cooperates with the ongoing investigation. If he is blameless, then he can clear his name.”

The lawmaker continued: “And if not, our investigation will show that, and the survivors will receive belated accountability. The monarchy’s actions stripping Andrew of his styles suggest there is more to this story.”

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