LONDON (AP) — Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly known as Prince Andrew, has been arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office that is centered on his close relationship with the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
His arrest Thursday follows years of allegations over his links with Epstein, who took his own life in a New York prison in 2019. The accusation at the heart of his arrest is that he shared confidential trade information with the disgraced financier.
It is one of the gravest crises to affect the House of Windsor since its establishment more than a hundred years ago. Arguably, only the abdication of King Edward VIII in 1936 and the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, in 1997 have been graver for the institution of the British monarchy.
Mountbatten-Windsor was taken into custody Thursday morning by officers from Thames Valley Police at King Charles III's private retreat in Sandringham, where the former prince is now living.
The arrest follows a ratcheting up of allegations against Mountbatten-Windsor in the wake of the release of millions of pages of files last month related to Epstein by the U.S. Justice Department.
Many of the allegations center on sexual impropriety on the part of Mountbatten-Windsor, specifically that a woman was trafficked to the U.K. by Epstein to have a sexual encounter with the then-prince.
However, he has been arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office.
The Crown Prosecution Service, which decides on whether a charge has the potential to lead to a successful prosecution, defines the misconduct in public office as the “serious willful abuse or neglect of the power or responsibilities of the public office held.”
Thames Valley Police said it was “assessing” reports that Mountbatten-Windsor sent confidential trade reports to Epstein in 2010, when the former prince was Britain’s special envoy for international trade. Other police forces in the U.K. are also conducting their own investigations.
Specifically, emails released as part of the Epstein files appeared to show Mountbatten-Windsor sharing reports of official visits to Hong Kong, Vietnam and Singapore.
Source: WPLG
