Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor has been arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office. Police officers in unmarked vehicles arrived at the former prince’s home on the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk just after 8 am.
Thames Valley police are looking into allegations that the King’s brother, who is 66 today, forwarded confidential reports while he was a trade envoy for the UK. Searches have been carried out at addresses in Berkshire and Norfolk.
The former Duke of York has been released from custody under investigation. He has previously denied all wrong-doing.
Mountbatten-Windsor’s arrest raises the prospect of a criminal trial over his links to Jeffrey Epstein, the paedophile financier who died in his prison cell in 2019. The maximum sentence for misconduct in public office is life imprisonment.
The allegations have emerged from files released by the US Department of Justice, which appear to show that the former Duke of York knowingly shared sensitive government documents and commercial information with the convicted sex offender while working as a trade envoy. In 2010 he apparently forwarded reports from visits to Vietnam, Singapore and China to Epstein. The documents also suggest that Mountbatten-Windsor sent on information about investment opportunities in Afghanistan.
Mountbatten-Windsor served as a UK trade envoy between 2001 and 2011. In this role he travelled around the world and enjoyed privileged access to senior government and business contacts. Under official guidance, trade envoys have a duty of confidentiality over information obtained as a result of their role.
A statement from Thames Valley police said: “We have today arrested a man in his 60s 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.”
Assistant chief constable Oliver Wright said: “Following a thorough assessment, we have now opened an investigation into this allegation of misconduct in public office.”
He added: “It is important that we protect the integrity and objectivity of our investigation as we work with our partners to investigate this alleged offence. We understand the significant public interest in this case and will provide updates at the appropriate time.”
Keir Starmer, asked about Mountbatten-Windsor before news of the arrest became public, said that “nobody is above the law”. He told BBC Breakfast that the principle was “very important” and “has to apply in this case in the same way it would in any other case”.
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The Home Office was informed about the arrest “very shortly” before it took place, according to a source. A Downing Street spokesman said: “We do not comment on live police investigations”.
The prime minister is not thought to have been informed of the arrest in advance. A Downing Street spokesperson said: “We do not comment on live police investigations.”
Harriet Harman, the UK special envoy for women and girls, and Labour’s former deputy leader, said: “The Epstein emails have shown a glimpse of the really ugly and horrific world of rich and powerful men.” She called for Mountbatten-Windsor to give evidence to the US congressional committee investigating Epstein. “Nobody should be above the law, whether that’s for allegedly leaking government secrets or alleged offences against young women and girls.”
Sarah Champion, the MP for Rotherham, said: “We cannot forget the victims and survivors at the centre of the Epstein case. Now is the moment for Andrew to do right by them and testify in the US.”
The arrest is the latest shockwave to be sent through the British political system by the release of the Epstein files. Peter Mandelson was forced to resign last year as UK ambassador to Washington over his links to the convicted paedophile. His homes in London and Wiltshire were searched by police. Morgan McSweeney, Keir Starmer’s former chief of staff, also quit earlier this month amid fears that the scandal would engulf the prime minister.
The affair has provoked the biggest crisis for the royal family in decades. According to the Press Association, King Charles was not informed of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s arrest in advance. In a statement published earlier today the king said: “What now follows is the full, fair and proper process by which this issue is investigated in the appropriate manner and by the appropriate authorities. In this, 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.”
Earlier this month, Buckingham Palace said it would cooperate with the police over any investigation. “The king has 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,” a spokesman said. The palace stressed that the king’s “thoughts and sympathies have been, and remain with, the victims of any and all forms of abuse”.
Luke Tryl, UK director of More in Common, said the Epstein scandal had deepened public hostility to traditional politicians and institutions. “Rather than an immediate threat to the monarchy, the real risk is that this fuels the sense that there’s a rigged system, with one rule for the elite and another rule for everyone else. That drives people away from what they think is a broken or corrupt mainstream.”
Polling by More in Common found that 81% of Britons believe elites follow a different set of rules to the rest of the population.
The former prince was stripped of his royal titles last October. He has also moved out of the Royal Lodge in Windsor and has been living at Wood Farm on the Sandringham estate.
Even before the latest revelations Mountbatten-Windsor’s standing with the public was extremely low. An Opinium poll around the time he was stripped of his titles recorded a net favourability of -65, with 8% favourable and 73% unfavourable among the British public.
Mountbatten-Windsor is under mounting pressure to give evidence about his relationship with Epstein to a US Congressional committee.
Virginia Giuffre, who took her own life in April last year, said she had been trafficked around the world by Epstein and forced to have sex with the former Duke of York when she was 17. Mountbatten-Windsor has always denied the claims.
Photograph by Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images