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A US congressional body investigating pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein has sent a letter to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, once Britain’s Prince Andrew, asking that he undergo a deposition as part of its investigation into Epstein’s wrongdoings.

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

The written appeal to answer questions follows a week after Mountbatten Windsor was relieved of his royal title and agreed to surrender his leased home in Windsor.

Records and Allegations

Mountbatten Windsor’s name appears in documents and travel logs obtained from Epstein’s estate and disclosed by the committee. He has also been charged by one of Epstein’s victims, the late Virginia Giuffre, of sexual assault.

“The panel will probe accusations of wrongdoing by Mountbatten Windsor, and will request data on Epstein’s activities, network, and associates based on the men’s long-term and extensively reported friendship,” the committee said in a announcement.

It demanded details from Mountbatten Windsor on particulars of his association with Epstein, who took his own life in a New York prison cell in 2019. Andrew has repeatedly strongly denied any wrongdoing.

Substance of the Communication

“It has been publicly reported that your association with Mr Epstein began 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 stated further: “It has also been alleged that you journeyed with Epstein to his New York home, the Queen’s estate at Balmoral, and to Mr Epstein’s personal island in the US Virgin Islands, where you have been charged of harming young girls. This intimate friendship with Mr Epstein, coupled with the freshly uncovered 2011 email exchange in which you wrote to him ‘we are in this together’, further bolsters our belief that you may have key insights about the crimes committed by Mr Epstein and his partners in crime.”

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

Past Comments and Cooperation

The letter follows a week after another Democrat on the committee told: “Andrew should be asked to testify before the oversight committee. The public deserves to know who was assaulting women and minors alongside Epstein.”

However, the lawmaker does not possess the authority to legally require the former prince and Congress itself cannot force testimony from a non-US citizen.

In 2020, US officials said that Mountbatten Windsor neglected to reply 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 legal team to check on his previous pledge that he was “ready to help any appropriate law enforcement agency”.

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

Appeals for Justice

The congressman said in a comment that “rich and powerful men have escaped justice for far too long. Now, ex- Prince Andrew has the opportunity to be honest and secure redress for the survivors. Oversight Democrats will not stop fighting for responsibility and clarity for victims of Epstein and his gang of co-conspirators.”

Another supporter, a Virginia Democrat, said that after hearing accounts to the committee from Epstein’s survivors, as well as media coverage of released files, “it is vital that Andrew cooperates with the active investigation. If he is innocent, then he can vindicate himself.”

The lawmaker stated further: “And if not, our examination will demonstrate that, and the affected individuals will receive long overdue redress. The royal household’s actions stripping Andrew of his honors indicate there is further to this situation.”

The letter was sent on the same day the British king formally removed Mountbatten Windsor of his princely title. Charles III officially made the adjustment – which had been declared a week ago – by issuing a “official document” which the crown office published in the Gazette, the UK’s public registry.