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A US congressional panel investigating convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has reached out to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, previously Britain’s Prince Andrew, asking that he undergo a deposition as part of its inquiry into Epstein’s criminal operations.

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

The official demand to answer questions arrives a week after Mountbatten Windsor was stripped of his royal title and consented to give up his property in Windsor.

Files and Allegations

Mountbatten Windsor’s name appears in documents and flight logs obtained 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 sexual assault.

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

It demanded details from Mountbatten Windsor on specifics of his association with Epstein, who died by suicide in a New York detention facility in 2019. Andrew has repeatedly strongly denied any impropriety.

Details of the Communication

“It has been documented that your relationship with Mr Epstein commenced in 1999 and that you stayed connected 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 residence, the Queen’s estate at Balmoral, and to Mr Epstein’s secluded island in the US Virgin Islands, where you have been charged of harming underage individuals. 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 supports our concern that you may have key insights about the crimes committed by Mr Epstein and his co-conspirators.”

A announcement regarding the letter said it was endorsed by 13 other Democrats on the committee and requests a reply by 20 November.

Earlier Remarks and Collaboration

The letter arrives a week after another Democrat on the committee commented: “Andrew should be called to testify before the oversight committee. The people should be able to know who was assaulting women and underage individuals alongside Epstein.”

However, the representative does not possess the power to legally require the duke and Congress itself cannot compel evidence from a overseas individual.

In 2020, US officials said that Mountbatten Windsor neglected to cooperate 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 earlier promise that he was “willing to help any relevant 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 “provided no cooperation”.

Demands for Accountability

The lawmaker said in a comment that “affluent and influential men have escaped justice for far too long. Now, ex- Prince Andrew has the chance to be honest and deliver redress for the survivors. We will not stop pushing for answerability and clarity for survivors of Epstein and his network of partners.”

Another supporter, a Virginia Democrat, said that after listening to evidence to the committee from Epstein’s victims, as well as public reporting of leaked documents, “it is crucial that Andrew cooperates with the current probe. If he is not guilty, then he can clear his name.”

The lawmaker added: “And if not, our examination will demonstrate that, and the victims will receive long overdue redress. The royal household’s actions taking away Andrew of his titles suggest there is further to this story.”

The letter was issued on the same day the British king formally stripped Mountbatten Windsor of his royal title. Charles III formally made the alteration – which had been declared a week ago – by issuing a “official document” which the monarch’s office published in the Gazette, the UK’s government journal.