Former prince taken into custody on his 66th birthday for suspected misconduct in public office.

By Probe International

February 19: Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly known as Prince Andrew, was arrested today on his 66th birthday at his residence on the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk, U.K., on suspicion of misconduct in public office. The first senior British royal to be arrested since King Charles I, almost 400 years ago, Thames Valley Police took Andrew into custody at an undisclosed location while officers continued to search addresses in Berkshire and Norfolk, including the Royal Lodge in Windsor where the former prince lived until recently.

Although police have not laid specific charges, the Thursday arrest marks a dramatic culmination of years of allegations surrounding Andrew’s ties to convicted sex offender, Jeffrey Epstein. The arrest, however, is not related to accusations of sexual assault or sexual misconduct. Police are reviewing claims connected to the release of files by the U.S. government that exposed the possibility Andrew had shared confidential information with Epstein while serving as trade envoy for the British Foreign Office from 2001 to 2011.

The BBC cites files made available by the U.S. Department of Justice that allege Andrew forwarded government reports in 2010 about his forthcoming visits to Vietnam, Singapore, Shenzhen in China, and Hong Kong to Epstein, where he was accompanied by business associates of the disgraced financier. On November 30, he seemingly forwarded official reports of those visits, which had been sent by his then-special assistant, Amit Patel, to Epstein just five minutes after receiving them. The documents suggest that Andrew also shared information regarding investment opportunities in gold and uranium in Afghanistan.

The Guardian details how David Stern, Andrew’s aide, was enlisted to help after Epstein’s visa application to China was rejected. It reports that Stern advised Epstein’s assistant to make the application at the Chinese embassy in Paris, specifically quoting Stern as saying it would be “better not to tick the boxes regarding being denied previously or criminal charges.”

Epstein is said to have helped to arrange meetings on Andrew’s behalf during his 2010 U.K. government-backed trade mission to China. Secret Beijing dinners were photographed by Epstein’s adviser, who then proposed wealth deals exploiting Andrew’s royal access.

Andrew was previously linked to an alleged Chinese spy, described as a “close confidant,” who was banned from the U.K. in December 2024 on national security grounds due to suspected espionage ties to China. This individual was later identified as Yang Tengbo, a Chinese businessman who reportedly knew how to access Andrew’s home on the Windsor estate unnoticed.

Disclosures from the Epstein files appear to connect the former prince and U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s appointee as U.S. ambassador, Lord Peter Mandelson, to a network of potential self-dealing involving Chinese financial and intelligence-linked entities alongside Western political and banking elites. This connection, reports The Bureau, suggests the investigation into Andrew could have significant implications for Starmer and his Labour government—not merely as a constitutional crisis over the monarchy but also as a potential reckoning regarding what those close to the prime minister knew and whether they were influenced in decisions related to Beijing.

Breaking his silence on his brother’s arrest, King Charles III in a public statement expressed his “deepest concern” and that “the law must take its course.” 

Andrew has since been released from police custody but remains under investigation.