Authorities in the United Kingdom arrested Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor on Thursday over suspicion of misconduct in public office in connection with the Jeffrey Epstein case.
Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly known as Prince Andrew, was detained after more details about his relationship with Epstein were found in millions of files the U.S. Justice Department released in recent months, which have sparked an investigation in Paris and uproar in Great Britain.
Thames Valley police released a statement saying: “As part of the investigation, we have today (19/2) arrested a man in his sixties from Norfolk on suspicion of misconduct in public office and are carrying out searches at addresses in Berkshire and Norfolk. The man remains in police custody at this time. We will not be naming the arrested man, as per national guidance.”
Police previously confirmed they were looking into allegations that King Charles III’s younger brother shared confidential trade documents with Epstein while working as the U.S. trade envoy, a title he held from 2001-2011.
Thames Valley police said they were “assessing the information” on February 9.
Mountbatten-Windsor, 66, is the first senior royal in modern history to be arrested. He was already stripped of his royal title due to his connections to Epstein in 2022, and was stripped of the last remaining titles, including the title of “prince,” last October.
The charges he faces carry the possibility of a lifetime sentence.
King Charles: ‘The law must take its course’
Charles expressed his “deepest concern” over his brother’s arrest.
“In this [investigation], as I have said before, they have our full and wholehearted support and co-operation. Let me state clearly: the law must take its course. As this process continues, it would not be right for me to comment further on this matter. Meanwhile, my family and I will continue in our duty and service to you all,” the king said in a statement.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer also weighed in on the arrest, warning that “nobody is above the law.”
The principle was “very important” and “has to apply in this case in the same way it would in any other case,” he told BBC News.
Mountbatten-Windsor has for years been ensnared in accusations that he sexually assaulted and raped at least one of Epstein’s victims, Virginia Giuffre. He never admitted guilt, but agreed to a settlement for an undisclosed “substantial” sum out of court in 2022, roughly three years before Giuffre, 41, killed herself. Giuffre’s memoir recounting her experience with Epstein and Mountbatten-Windsor, released posthumously in October 2025, stirred further uproar in Great Britain.
The Guiffre family released a statement Thursday applauding the former prince’s arrest.
“At last, today our broken hearts have been lifted with the news that no one is above the law – not even royalty,” the family said. “He was never a prince. For survivors everywhere, Virginia did this for you.”
WHY HAS NO AMERICAN FALLEN OVER THE EPSTEIN FILES?
In a 2010 email sent to Epstein shortly after he was released from an 18-month stint in jail, the former prince said he hoped to “catch up” with the New York financier. Epstein had been convicted of procuring an underage girl for prostitution. The emails were revealed last year.
The final straw appeared to drop last month, when the Justice Department released more information on the two’s relationship, including a photo seeming to depict Mountbatten-Windsor perched over a female minor lying on the floor.
This is a breaking news story and has been updated.
