The UK police on Thursday arrested King Charles' younger brother Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor on suspicion of misconduct in public office, BBC TV reported.
According to reports cited by Reuters news agency, ix unmarked police cars and around eight plain clothed officers arrived at Wood Farm on the Sandringham estate earlier today. This comes over a week after the royal family said they were ready to support any police probe into Andrew's links with convicted American sexual offender and trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
Andrew has been in hot water since his connection with Epstein was revealed. He came under the scanner again when recently released documents by the United States Department of Justice suggested that the former royal might have shared sensitive information and documents about British trade with Epstein, according to Reuters.
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A spokesperson for the Buckingham Palace made it clear earlier that if the royal family is approached by the Thames Valley Police, they would “support them as you would expect.”
Andrew's links with Epstein: What we know
Andrew, who lost his royal titles following scrutiny over his connection to Epstein, was also asked to surrender the lease for his home at Royal Lodge and moved to an alternate location in October last year. The former royal allegedly knew Epstein on-and-off since 1999, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Andrew is one of the prominent figures whose names are linked to Epstein's private island property, with the former royal also mentioned in one Virginia Giuffre’s memoir, per The Guardian. There have been allegations against him for sexually assaulting Giuffre, who ended her life by suicide. Giuffre, in her memoir, revealed shocking details regarding Andrew and his visits to Epstein’s Island. Andrew, who had settled a civil suit with Giuffre in 2022 for 12 million pounds, denied these allegations.
{{/usCountry}}Andrew is one of the prominent figures whose names are linked to Epstein's private island property, with the former royal also mentioned in one Virginia Giuffre’s memoir, per The Guardian. There have been allegations against him for sexually assaulting Giuffre, who ended her life by suicide. Giuffre, in her memoir, revealed shocking details regarding Andrew and his visits to Epstein’s Island. Andrew, who had settled a civil suit with Giuffre in 2022 for 12 million pounds, denied these allegations.
{{/usCountry}}However, recently released documents from the US Department of Justice include incriminating emails exchanged between Andrew and Epstein, as well as photographs.
In one of these exchanges, which took place in 2010, Epstein emailed Andrew asking to alter the pair’s plans for a quiet dinner in Buckingham Palace.
The American financier, convicted in 2008 of soliciting a minor for prostitution, said he was accompanied by three women, including a Russian model, asking if he could bring them all, to which Andrew agreed, the Wall Street Journal reported. The interaction came just over a year after Epstein finished serving a 13-month-long sentence.
While Andrew, in an interview with BBC in 2019, alleged he had cut off all contact with Epstein in 2010, newly disclosed documents show that the latter had helped the former royal and his indebted ex-wife Sarah Ferguson manage their finances after he got out of jail. Epstein was contacting Andrew till 2018, according to the new tranche of emails released by the US DoJ, via messages passed by a close business associate, David Stern, WSJ reported.
Apart from personal interactions, Andrew also reportedly forwarded to Epstein confidential government briefings on several of the Asian countries he visited as trade envoy, owing to which he has now been accused of misconduct in public office.