Former Prince Andrew arrested over Epstein ties

The police in Britain on Thursday arrested Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly known as Prince Andrew, over suspicions of misconduct in public office after accusations that he shared confidential information with Jeffrey Epstein while serving as a British trade envoy, according to the BBC.

The Thames Valley Police said in a statement that it had “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.”

As British law requires, the police did not name the suspect, but the details provided in the police report match what is known about the public misconduct allegations. The police were seen on Thursday morning at the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk, England, where Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor is living.

Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor has consistently denied wrongdoing.

While Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor’s links to Mr. Epstein, the convicted sex offender, have been known for years, and resulted in his being stripped of his royal titles last year, his arrest marks a new chapter in his public fall from grace.

In a statement released on Feb. 9, before the police investigation into the allegations was announced, Buckingham Palace said that if King Charles III or the palace were approached by the police “we stand ready to support them as you would expect.”

The statement added that Charles had “made clear, in words and through unprecedented actions, his profound concern at allegations which continue to come to light in respect of Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor’s conduct.”

While Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor had already been accused of sexual offenses, a new tranche of documents released by the U.S. Department of Justice on Jan. 30 included a number of emails that suggested he may have shared confidential documents when working as a British trade envoy.

In one email, Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor appears to forward to Mr. Epstein official reports about visits he made as envoy to South Asia in 2010 that were sent to him by his assistant.

Previously, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, one of Mr. Epstein’s victims, said that the financier had trafficked her to Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor around 2001, when she was a teenager, and that he had sex with her multiple times.

Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor has repeatedly denied Ms. Giuffre’s accusations and has denied any wrongdoing in relation to his friendship with Mr. Epstein.

Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor’s representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Thursday morning.

In 2022, he paid Ms. Giuffre an undisclosed sum to settle a lawsuit in a New York court in which she said he had raped and sexually abused her when she was 17. Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor did not admit to any of Ms. Giuffre’s accusations against him in the statement announcing the settlement.

The latest tranche of documents revealed his continuing communications with Mr. Epstein long after he had claimed to have severed ties with him.

After the latest release of files, Republic, a British anti-monarchy group, filed two reports with the Thames Valley Police accusing Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor of “suspected misconduct in public office and breach of official secrets.”

Graham Smith, Republic’s lead campaigner, said that the onus was on the police to act swiftly to investigate, as it had in the case of Peter Mandelson, a senior British politician with a long and close friendship with Mr. Epstein, the extent of which also came to light in the latest documents.

Mr. Mandelson, a senior figure within the Labour Party and the former British ambassador to the United States, is being investigated by the Metropolitan Police in London over accusations that he leaked confidential and market-sensitive information to Mr. Epstein while serving in government. Mr. Mandelson has previously denied any criminal wrongdoing.

The British government has agreed to release thousands of internal government documents relating to Mr. Mandelson’s vetting and appointment as ambassador. The political turmoil has undermined the premiership of Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who appointed Mr. Mandelson to the role of ambassador, and even led to calls for him to resign over the decision.