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

In a letter published on Thursday, a lawmaker, the leading Democrat on the House oversight committee, urged that King Charles III’s sibling cooperate with its probe.

The formal request to provide testimony arrives a week after Mountbatten Windsor was stripped of his princely title and consented to vacate his property in Windsor.

Records and Allegations

Mountbatten Windsor’s name features in documents and flight logs subpoenaed from Epstein’s estate and made public by the committee. He has also been alleged by one of Epstein’s survivors, the late Virginia Giuffre, of misconduct.

“The oversight committee will investigate accusations of misconduct by Mountbatten Windsor, and will request details on Epstein’s operations, network, and accomplices based on the men’s long-term and well-documented friendship,” the committee said in a statement.

It requested information from Mountbatten Windsor on particulars of his friendship with Epstein, who killed himself in a New York detention facility in 2019. Andrew has always strongly denied any misconduct.

Details of the Request

“It has been widely reported that your relationship with Mr Epstein started in 1999 and that you continued associating through and after his 2008 sentencing for procuring minors for prostitution,” the letter said.

It added: “It has also been alleged that you journeyed 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 young girls. This intimate friendship with Mr Epstein, along 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 valuable information about the offenses committed by Mr Epstein and his partners in crime.”

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

Earlier Comments and Collaboration

The letter arrives a week after another Democrat on the committee stated: “Andrew should be asked to appear before the panel. The public has the right to know who was assaulting women and minors alongside Epstein.”

However, the representative does not hold the ability to legally require the duke and Congress itself cannot compel evidence from a foreign national.

In 2020, US authorities said that Mountbatten Windsor did not 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 check on his previous pledge that he was “willing to help any suitable law enforcement agency”.

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

Demands for Transparency

The congressman said in a comment that “wealthy and well-connected men have evaded the law for far too long. Now, former Prince Andrew has the chance to come clean and provide redress for the survivors. We will not stop pushing for accountability and transparency for victims of Epstein and his group of co-conspirators.”

Another signatory, a Virginia Democrat, said that after receiving evidence to the committee from Epstein’s accusers, as well as media coverage of released files, “it is crucial that Andrew cooperates with the ongoing investigation. If he is innocent, then he can prove his innocence.”

The lawmaker added: “And if not, our probe will reveal that, and the victims will receive long overdue justice. The monarchy’s actions removing Andrew of his honors indicate there is further to this case.”

The letter was issued on the same day the British king officially revoked Mountbatten Windsor of his HRH style. Charles III officially made the alteration – which had been revealed a week ago – by issuing a “royal decree” which the crown office published in the Gazette, the UK’s official public record.