🔗 Share this article

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

In a document made public on Thursday, a lawmaker, the senior Democrat on the House investigative committee, asked that King Charles III’s younger brother cooperate with its inquiry.

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

Documents and Claims

Mountbatten Windsor’s name is listed in documents and flight logs secured from Epstein’s estate and publicly released by the committee. He has also been accused by one of Epstein’s victims, the late Virginia Giuffre, of sexual assault.

“The panel will probe claims of wrongdoing by Mountbatten Windsor, and will request details on Epstein’s operations, network, and connections based on the men’s enduring and well-documented friendship,” the committee said in a announcement.

It requested information from Mountbatten Windsor on specifics of his association with Epstein, who took his own life in a New York jail cell in 2019. Andrew has always strongly denied any misconduct.

Content of the Request

“It has been publicly reported that your association with Mr Epstein began in 1999 and that you remained close through and after his 2008 sentencing for soliciting minors for sex work,” the letter said.

It stated further: “It has also been alleged that you journeyed with Epstein to his New York property, the Queen’s estate at Balmoral, and to Mr Epstein’s private island in the US Virgin Islands, where you have been alleged of abusing minors. This strong bond 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 key insights about the crimes committed by Mr Epstein and his partners in crime.”

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

Past Comments and Assistance

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

However, the lawmaker does not have the ability to compel the ex-royal and Congress itself cannot oblige statements from a non-US citizen.

In 2020, US officials said that Mountbatten Windsor neglected to cooperate to US demands for an meeting. The then US attorney for the southern district of New York said that prosecutors and the FBI had contacted Andrew’s attorneys to follow up 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 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 statement that “rich and well-connected men have escaped accountability for far too long. Now, former Prince Andrew has the option to come clean and provide justice for the survivors. Oversight Democrats will not stop fighting for responsibility and transparency for victims of Epstein and his group of accomplices.”

Another endorser, a Virginia Democrat, said that after receiving accounts to the committee from Epstein’s accusers, as well as public reporting of leaked documents, “it is essential that Andrew works together with the active probe. If he is not guilty, then he can vindicate himself.”

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

The letter came on the same day the British king formally revoked Mountbatten Windsor of his princely title. Charles III formally made the change – which had been revealed a week ago – by issuing a “letters patent” which the royal office published in the Gazette, the UK’s government journal.