LONDON (AP) — The former Prince Andrew was arrested and held for hours by British police Thursday on suspicion of misconduct in public office related to his links to Jeffrey Epstein, an extraordinary move in a country where authorities once sought to shield the royal family from embarrassment.
It was the first time in nearly four centuries that a senior British royal was placed under arrest, and it underscored how deference to the monarchy has eroded in recent years.
Britain’s Prince Andrew, center, and his daughters Princess Eugenie, left, and Princess Beatrice leave Westminster Abbey after the wedding of Prince William to Catherine Middleton, in London, April 29, 2011. (AP Photo/Gero Breloer, File)
Then-Britain’s Prince Andrew, left, and Britain’s King Charles III leave after the Requiem Mass service for the Duchess of Kent at Westminster Cathedral in London, Sept. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Joanna Chan, File)
Britain’s Prince Andrew, greets a business leader during a reception at the sideline of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2015. (AP Photo/Michel Euler, Pool, File)
Britain’s Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly known as Prince Andrew, looks round as he leaves after attending the Easter Matins Service at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, England, April 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, File)
President Donald Trump, right, and first lady Melania Trump, left, accompanied by Britain’s Prince Andrew, leave after a tour of Westminster Abbey in London, June 3, 2019. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham, File)
British Prince Andrew, with his bride, Sarah, waves from their horse-drawn carriage as they leave Westminster Abbey following their marriage in London, July 23, 1986. (AP Photo/Dave Caulkin, File)
President Clinton, right, heads out to play a round of golf with Prince Andrew, left, at the Farm Neck Golf Club in Oak Bluffs, Mass., on Martha’s Vineyard Friday, Aug. 27, 1999. (AP Photo/Greg Gibson, File)
Britain’s Prince Andrew, right, talks to former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, left, as she is presented with the Chatham House prize, a scroll signed by Queen Elizabeth II, Patron of the institute, during the Chatham House Prize award ceremony in central London, Friday, Oct. 11, 2013. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis, File)
Prince Andrew strides along the dock at Pensacola Naval Base in Pensacola, Florida on Feb. 23, 1980 as he prepares for shore leave. Prince Andrews is stationed aboard the HMS Hermes and undergoing training at the facility. (AP Photo/MB, File)
FILE – The Duke of York holds week-old Princess Eugenie Victoria Helena outside Portland Hospital in London, March 30, 1990. (AP Photo/Peter Kemp, File)
King Charles III, whose late mother lived by the motto “never complain, never explain,” took the unusual step of issuing a statement on the arrest of his brother, now known as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.
“Let me state clearly: the law must take its course,’’ the king said. “As this process continues, it would not be right for me to comment further on this matter.’’
The Thames Valley Police force said Mountbatten-Windsor was released Thursday evening, about 11 hours after he was detained at his home in eastern England. He was photographed in a car leaving the station near his home on the royal Sandringham Estate.
Police said he was released under investigation, meaning he has neither been charged nor exonerated. Police said they had finished searching Mountbatten-Windsor’s home, but officers were still searching his former residence near Windsor Castle.
The police force, which covers areas west of London, including Mountbatten-Windsor’s former home, said Thursday that a man in his 60s from Norfolk in eastern England, had been arrested and was in custody. Police did not identify the suspect, in line with standard procedures in Britain.
Mountbatten-Windsor, 66, moved to the king’s private estate in Norfolk after he was evicted from his longtime home near the castle earlier this month.
Epstein files include mentions of prominent figures. Here’s who was named
Police previously said they were “assessing” reports that Mountbatten-Windsor sent trade information to Epstein, a wealthy investor and convicted sex offender, in 2010, when the former prince was Britain’s special envoy for international trade. Correspondence between the two men was released by the U.S. Justice Department late last month along with millions of pages of documents from the American investigation into Epstein.
“Following a thorough assessment, we have now opened an investigation into this allegation of misconduct in public office,’’ Assistant Chief Constable Oliver Wright said in a statement.
“We understand the significant public interest in this case, and we will provide updates at the appropriate time,” he added.
Police also said they were searching two properties.
Earlier in the day, pictures circulated online that appeared to show unmarked police cars at Wood Farm, Mountbatten-Windsor’s home on the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk, with plainclothes officers gathering outside.
Mountbatten-Windsor has consistently denied any wrongdoing in his association with Epstein.
The allegations being investigated Thursday are separate from those made by Virginia Giuffre, who claimed she was trafficked to Britain to have sex with the prince in 2001, when she was just 17. Giuffre died by suicide last year.
Still, Giuffre’s family praised the arrest, saying that their “broken hearts have been lifted at the news that no one is above the law, not even royalty.”
The family added: “He was never a prince. For survivors everywhere, Virginia did this for you.”
A ‘spectacular fall from grace’
“This is the most spectacular fall from grace for a member of the royal family in modern times,” said Craig Prescott, a royal expert at Royal Holloway, University of London, who compared it in severity to the crisis sparked by Edward VIII’s abdication to marry American divorcee Wallis Simpson.
“And it may not be over yet,’’ Prescott added.
Thursday’s arrest came a day after the National Police Chiefs’ Council said it had created a coordination group to assist forces across the U.K. that are assessing whether Epstein and his associates committed crimes in Britain. In addition to the concerns about Mountbatten-Windsor’s correspondence, documents released by the U.S. suggest Epstein may have used his private jet to traffic women to and from Britain.
The documents also rocked British politics. Prime Minister Keir Starmer had to fight off questions about his judgment after the papers revealed that Peter Mandelson, the man he appointed ambassador to the U.S., had a longer and closer relationship with Epstein than was previously disclosed.
London’s Metropolitan Police Service has said it is investigating allegations of misconduct in public office related to Mandelson’s own correspondence with Epstein. Mandelson was fired as ambassador to the U.S. in September.
But it is Mountbatten-Windsor’s relationship with Epstein that brought the scandal to the doors of Buckingham Palace and threatened to undermine support for the monarchy.
The last time a senior British royal was arrested was almost 400 years ago during the reign of King Charles I that saw a growing power struggle between the crown and Parliament.
After the king attempted to arrest lawmakers in the House of Commons in 1642, hostilities erupted into the English Civil War, which ended with victory for the parliamentary forces of Oliver Cromwell.
Charles I was arrested, tried, convicted of high treason and beheaded in 1649.
Modern concerns about Mountbatten-Windsor’s links to Epstein have dogged the royal family for more than a decade.
The late Queen Elizabeth II forced her second son to give up royal duties and end his charitable work in 2019 after he tried to explain away his friendship with Epstein during a catastrophic interview with the BBC.
But as concern mounted about what the Epstein files might reveal, the king moved aggressively to insulate the royal family from the fallout.
Since October, Charles has stripped his younger brother of the right to be called prince, forced him to move out of the royal estate he occupied for more than 20 years and issued a public statement supporting the women and girls abused by Epstein.
Last week, the palace said it was ready to cooperate with police investigating Mountbatten-Windsor.
Charles was forced to act after Mountbatten-Windsor’s correspondence with Epstein torpedoed the former prince’s claims that he severed ties with the financier after Epstein’s 2008 conviction for soliciting a minor for prostitution.
Instead, emails between the two men show Epstein offering to arrange a date between Mountbatten-Windsor and a young Russian woman in 2010, and the then-prince inviting Epstein to dinner at Buckingham Palace.
Additional correspondence appears to show Mountbatten-Windsor sending Epstein reports from a two-week tour of Southeast Asia that he undertook in 2010 as Britain’s trade envoy.
Danny Shaw, an expert on law enforcement in the U.K., told the BBC that in most cases, suspects are held between 12 and 24 hours and are then either charged or released pending further investigation.
Mountbatten-Windsor will be placed in “a cell in a custody suite” with just “a bed and a toilet,” where he will wait until his police interview.
“There’ll be no special treatment for him,″ Shaw said.
