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

In a communication released on Thursday, a lawmaker, the top Democrat on the House investigative committee, requested that King Charles III’s sibling assist with its investigation.

The official demand to respond to queries follows a week after Mountbatten Windsor was lost his princely title and consented to give up his rented residence in Windsor.

Documents and Claims

Mountbatten Windsor’s name features in documents and flight logs obtained from Epstein’s estate and made public by the committee. He has also been accused by one of Epstein’s victims, the late Virginia Giuffre, of sexual assault.

“The committee will probe accusations of abuse by Mountbatten Windsor, and will request details on Epstein’s operations, associates, and associates based on the men’s longstanding and thoroughly recorded friendship,” the committee said in a announcement.

It demanded details from Mountbatten Windsor on specifics of his friendship with Epstein, who died by suicide in a New York detention facility in 2019. Andrew has always vehemently rejected any wrongdoing.

Substance of the Communication

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

It continued: “It has also been alleged that you traveled with Epstein to his New York home, the Queen’s residence at Balmoral, and to Mr Epstein’s private island in the US Virgin Islands, where you have been accused of assaulting underage individuals. This intimate friendship with Mr Epstein, coupled with the freshly uncovered 2011 electronic correspondence in which you wrote to him ‘we are in this together’, further confirms our concern that you may have valuable information about the crimes committed by Mr Epstein and his co-conspirators.”

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

Previous Statements and Assistance

The letter comes a week after another Democrat on the committee stated: “Andrew should be summoned to testify before the committee. The people deserves to know who was assaulting women and underage individuals alongside Epstein.”

However, the representative does not possess the authority to compel the ex-royal and Congress itself cannot oblige evidence from a non-US citizen.

In 2020, US officials said that Mountbatten Windsor neglected to reply to US appeals for an meeting. The then US attorney for the southern district of New York said that prosecutors and the FBI had approached Andrew’s lawyers to check on his public commitment that he was “ready to help any relevant law enforcement agency”.

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

Calls for Accountability

The lawmaker said in a comment that “affluent and powerful men have evaded accountability for far too long. Now, one-time Prince Andrew has the option to come clean and provide accountability for the affected individuals. We will not cease advocating for responsibility and transparency for victims of Epstein and his group of accomplices.”

Another supporter, 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 essential that Andrew cooperates with the active probe. If he is innocent, then he can clear his name.”

The lawmaker added: “And if not, our examination will show that, and the victims will receive belated accountability. The royal household’s actions stripping Andrew of his titles indicate there is further to this story.”

The letter came on the same day the British king formally stripped Mountbatten Windsor of his HRH style. Charles III publicly made the adjustment – which had been declared a week ago – by issuing a “letters patent” which the monarch’s office published in the Gazette, the UK’s official public record.