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A US congressional body probing sex offender financier Jeffrey Epstein has reached out to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, once Britain’s Prince Andrew, requesting that he participate in a deposition as part of its investigation into Epstein’s wrongdoings.

In a document made public on Thursday, a California congressman, the senior Democrat on the House oversight committee, asked that King Charles III’s brother cooperate with its inquiry.

The formal request to respond to queries arrives a week after Mountbatten Windsor was stripped of his HRH style and agreed to surrender his leased home in Windsor.

Records and Claims

Mountbatten Windsor’s name features in records and travel logs secured from Epstein’s estate and made public by the committee. He has also been alleged by one of Epstein’s victims, the late Virginia Giuffre, of abuse.

“The panel will examine accusations of misconduct by Mountbatten Windsor, and will demand information on Epstein’s network, network, and associates based on the men’s longstanding and extensively reported friendship,” the committee said in a press release.

It sought information from Mountbatten Windsor on details of his friendship with Epstein, who took his own life in a New York detention facility in 2019. Andrew has always categorically 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 guilty verdict for trafficking underage girls for commercial sex acts,” 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 assaulting minors. This intimate friendship with Mr Epstein, along with the newly disclosed 2011 digital communication in which you wrote to him ‘we are in this together’, further confirms our suspicion that you may have valuable information 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.

Past Comments and Assistance

The letter follows a week after another Democrat on the committee told: “Andrew should be asked to appear before the oversight committee. The people should be able to know who was abusing women and young girls alongside Epstein.”

However, the congressman does not hold the ability to legally require the duke and Congress itself cannot compel statements from a overseas individual.

In 2020, US officials said that Mountbatten Windsor failed to reply to US appeals for an interview. The then US attorney for the southern district of New York said that authorities and the FBI had approached Andrew’s attorneys to follow up on his previous pledge that he was “ready to help any appropriate law enforcement agency”.

“It’s fair for people to know whether Prince Andrew has fulfilled with that assurance,” the attorney said, adding that to date he had “given zero cooperation”.

Appeals for Transparency

The congressman said in a announcement that “affluent and powerful men have evaded accountability for far too long. Now, ex- Prince Andrew has the option to come clean and deliver accountability for the affected individuals. The committee will not halt advocating for responsibility and transparency for those affected of Epstein and his network of co-conspirators.”

Another signatory, a Virginia Democrat, said that after hearing evidence to the committee from Epstein’s survivors, as well as news accounts of released files, “it is vital that Andrew cooperates with the current probe. If he is not guilty, then he can clear his name.”

The lawmaker continued: “And if not, our investigation will reveal that, and the affected individuals will receive much-delayed redress. The monarchy’s actions taking away Andrew of his titles indicate there is further to this situation.”

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