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

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

The official demand to provide testimony arrives a week after Mountbatten Windsor was lost his royal title and agreed to vacate his property in Windsor.

Documents and Claims

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

“The oversight committee will probe accusations of wrongdoing by Mountbatten Windsor, and will seek data on Epstein’s activities, associates, and accomplices based on the men’s longstanding and thoroughly recorded friendship,” the committee said in a statement.

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

Content of the Letter

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

It stated further: “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 private island in the US Virgin Islands, where you have been accused of harming minors. This close relationship with Mr Epstein, along with the newly disclosed 2011 email exchange in which you wrote to him ‘we are in this together’, further bolsters our concern that you may have valuable information about the wrongdoings committed by Mr Epstein and his accomplices.”

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

Earlier Comments and Assistance

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

However, the lawmaker does not hold the power to compel the duke and Congress itself cannot compel testimony from a overseas individual.

In 2020, US agencies said that Mountbatten Windsor failed to cooperate to US demands for an meeting. The then US attorney for the southern district of New York said that lawyers and the FBI had reached out to Andrew’s legal team to check on his earlier promise that he was “ready to help any relevant law enforcement agency”.

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

Demands for Transparency

The congressman said in a announcement that “affluent and powerful men have avoided justice for far too long. Now, former Prince Andrew has the opportunity to come clean and provide justice for the affected individuals. Oversight Democrats will not stop fighting for accountability and openness for victims of Epstein and his group of partners.”

Another signatory, a Virginia Democrat, said that after hearing evidence to the committee from Epstein’s survivors, as well as public reporting of disclosed papers, “it is essential that Andrew works together with the ongoing inquiry. If he is innocent, then he can vindicate himself.”

The lawmaker stated further: “And if not, our investigation will reveal that, and the affected individuals will receive much-delayed justice. The Royal Family’s actions stripping Andrew of his styles show there is more to this story.”

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