(Bloomberg) — By Thursday morning, nearly four centuries had passed since the arrest of a senior British royal official.
The late Queen Elizabeth II’s favorite son was arrested on his 66th birthday. for suspicion of misconduct in public office. By evening, the former prince was released from police custody. But the ongoing investigation will reveal years of sordid allegations about Andrew’s links to disgraced US financier Jeffrey Epstein, which embarrassed his brother, King Charles III.
The arrest of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor is a fresh nadir for Britain’s most powerful family as it struggles to overcome a litany of setbacks and adapt to the 21st century.
Given how much the monarchy has changed, the royal statement offering full cooperation with the law did not mention these family ties. It was only four years ago that the late Queen came to the aid of the former Prince Andrew, helping him settle a sexual abuse lawsuit linking him to Epstein – in which he denied any wrongdoing – for an undisclosed sum.
Instead, Charles outlined his “deepest concern” and pledged Buckingham Palace’s “full and unreserved support” to the authorities investigating his brother. “Let me be clear,” he wrote: “The law must take its course.”
The speed of Charles’ statement to the press following his brother’s arrest marked a departure from the royal family’s usual pace of communication. The Windsors were famously destabilized by criticism after the death of Charles’ ex-wife Princess Diana in 1997 that they were slow to reflect the public mood.
According to Ed Owens, royal historian and author of After Elizabeth: Can the Monarchy Save Itself, could the Royal Family have come down harder on Andrew in 2019 when the famous BBC Newsnight interview about Andrew’s Epstein ties aired?
“Andrew’s unexploded bomb was left for King Charles to detonate at the start of his reign,” he added. “It had a spectacularly damaging effect on the king’s moral authority.
Owens criticized Charles for waiting until last year to strip Andrew of his royal titles, after the former prince had been dealing with Epstein-related legal issues for most of the decade.
The police raid on Andrew’s home in Norfolk capped an already tumultuous decade for the Windsors, with the family now facing unprecedented scrutiny and uncertainty amid fallout from the Epstein files released by the US Department of Justice in January.
Some royal watchers say the arrest of the king’s brother poses as serious a challenge to the institution as the abdication crisis in 1936 or the death of Princess Diana in 1997. It comes after events such as the king’s own cancer diagnosis, the estrangement of Prince Harry and the death of the late queen in 2022 have affected it in recent years.
“The royal family will keep calm and carry on, but they will be tested like never before,” Richard Fitzwilliams, a royal commentator, said in a telephone interview.
There is a risk that family members are now being questioned by the police as part of the police investigation into Andrew and further embarrassment from revelations coming from the Epstein files or the police investigation itself.
The DOJ files contained emails suggesting that Mountbatten-Windsor advocated for Epstein on a visit with the late Queen Elizabeth II to the United Arab Emirates in 2010, and that he shared information gained during his role as a UK government trade envoy from 2001-2011 with the disgraced financier and his associates.
Nearly 200 documents released by the US Department of Justice so far contain the phrase “HRH The Duke of York KG”, which is the designation for several emails Epstein received.
They also featured pictures of the former prince on all fours kneeling over a young woman.
“It’s the lowest point for the royal family in hundreds of years,” India McTaggart, royal correspondent for the Daily Telegraph, said in a telephone interview. “For Queen Elizabeth II’s beloved son to be in police custody on his 66th birthday and the King’s younger brother. It’s unthinkable.”
Mountbatten-Windsor previously faced separate allegations of sexual misconduct linked to his friendship with Epstein, prompting his mother, the late Queen, to strip him of his military titles and patronage in 2022. They included a US civil lawsuit filed by Virginia Giuffre, who claimed she was forced to have sex with the former prince as a teenager. He paid a financial settlement to end the lawsuit and denied wrongdoing.
Andrew’s arrest follows a series of high-profile fallout from the Epstein files in the UK, which also prompted a police investigation into the country’s former ambassador to Washington, Peter Mandelson.
Jonathan Dimbleby, a historian, broadcaster and friend of King Charles III, said Andrew’s arrest actually showed the robustness of British institutions.
“It has become very clear that the police force is not treating him with kid gloves just because he is the brother of the monarch,” Dimbleby said in a telephone interview. “They treated him like any other citizen,” he said, contrasting the results positively with how the release of Epstein’s files has been restricted by the US executive branch.
King Charles stripped Mountbatten-Windsor of his remaining titles – including “prince” – in September following the publication of Giuffre’s memoir, in which she said the former prince “believed that sex with me was his birthright”. Despite the king’s move, his brother is still eighth in line to the throne.
Nine out of ten Britons say it was “definitely” or “probably” the right decision for Charles III. to strip his brother of his titles, Ipsos found in a poll conducted in November, while 53% had a favorable opinion of the king.
“Nobody is stronger than institutions and the monarchy will survive,” said Dickie Arbiter, a former press secretary to Queen Elizabeth II. “Just because you have one rotten apple in your basket doesn’t mean the whole basket is rotten. You get rid of the rotten apple and the rest goes on.”
–With help from Alex Morales and Lucy White.
(Reflects Andrew’s release from police custody in the first screen.)
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