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A US congressional body investigating pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein has formally written to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, formerly Britain’s Prince Andrew, demanding that he participate in a deposition as part of its inquiry into Epstein’s criminal operations.

In a communication released on Thursday, a California congressman, the senior Democrat on the House oversight panel, asked that King Charles III’s sibling cooperate with its inquiry.

The official demand to provide testimony follows a week after Mountbatten Windsor was lost his HRH style and opted to vacate his leased home in Windsor.

Records and Accusations

Mountbatten Windsor’s name appears in documents and travel logs secured from Epstein’s estate and made public by the committee. He has also been accused by one of Epstein’s accusers, the late Virginia Giuffre, of sexual assault.

“The oversight committee will probe accusations of abuse by Mountbatten Windsor, and will request data on Epstein’s operations, network, and connections based on the men’s long-term and thoroughly recorded friendship,” the committee said in a statement.

It requested particulars from Mountbatten Windsor on specifics of his association with Epstein, who killed himself in a New York jail cell in 2019. Andrew has consistently vehemently rejected any misconduct.

Details of the Request

“It has been widely reported that your association with Mr Epstein commenced in 1999 and that you stayed connected through and after his 2008 conviction for soliciting minors for sex work,” the letter said.

It stated further: “It has also been alleged that you went with Epstein to his New York property, the Queen’s home at Balmoral, and to Mr Epstein’s personal island in the US Virgin Islands, where you have been accused of harming underage individuals. This close relationship with Mr Epstein, coupled with the recently revealed 2011 digital communication in which you wrote to him ‘we are in this together’, further bolsters our concern 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 endorsed by 13 other Democrats on the committee and requests a reply by 20 November.

Earlier Remarks and Cooperation

The letter follows a week after another Democrat on the committee commented: “Andrew should be called to give evidence before the panel. The public has the right to know who was assaulting women and young girls alongside Epstein.”

However, the congressman does not have the ability to legally require the former prince and Congress itself cannot compel testimony from a foreign national.

In 2020, US officials said that Mountbatten Windsor neglected to cooperate to US requests for an interview. The then US attorney for the southern district of New York said that lawyers and the FBI had contacted Andrew’s attorneys to inquire on his public commitment that he was “prepared to help any appropriate law enforcement agency”.

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

Calls for Accountability

The representative said in a comment that “rich and well-connected men have escaped accountability for far too long. Now, one-time Prince Andrew has the chance to be honest and provide redress for the survivors. The committee will not halt pushing for responsibility and openness for those affected of Epstein and his group of partners.”

Another signatory, a Virginia Democrat, said that after hearing testimony to the committee from Epstein’s survivors, as well as media coverage of leaked documents, “it is crucial that Andrew works together with the active inquiry. If he is not guilty, then he can vindicate himself.”

The lawmaker added: “And if not, our examination will reveal that, and the affected individuals will receive belated accountability. The Royal Family’s actions taking away Andrew of his honors suggest there is additional to this case.”

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