BREAKING: Andrew Arrested Over Epstein Files — China Ties Cast Shadow Over Investigation and Starmer's Govt
Andrew's aide proposed using the former prince's "aura and access" to build a private investment office with a Beijing outpost, documents released under the Epstein Transparency Act revealed.
LONDON — British police have arrested Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor — formerly known as Prince Andrew — on suspicion of misconduct in public office, Thames Valley Police confirmed Thursday morning.
The arrest, believed to set a historical precedent in Britain, came on his 66th birthday. Officers were seen at the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk, where the former prince has been living since being evicted from his sprawling royal residence. At least six unmarked police cars were photographed arriving at Wood Farm, his current residence on King Charles’s Sandringham estate, with around eight officers thought to be on site, the BBC reported. Searches were also conducted at an address in Berkshire, likely at the royal estate at Windsor where he previously lived.
The offense of misconduct in public office is a common law offense in England carrying a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
The arrest comes weeks after a tranche of U.S. Department of Justice documents, released January 30 under the Epstein Transparency Act, surfaced emails suggesting Mountbatten-Windsor may have shared confidential government reports with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein while serving as a British trade envoy — a role that brought him into sustained contact with some of China’s most senior political and business figures.
King Charles III confirmed the arrest Thursday, saying he had “learned with the deepest concern” the news about his brother and supported a “full, fair and proper process.” In a written statement, the King added: “Let me state clearly: the law must take its course.” He indicated he would not be commenting further and said his family would “continue in our duty and service.”
Prime Minister Keir Starmer, speaking on the BBC hours before the arrest was announced, said that “nobody is above the law” and that the principle applied “in this case in the same way it would in any other case.”
Beyond Starmer's statement on Mountbatten-Windsor, as The Bureau has reported, disclosures in the Epstein files appear to link the former prince and Starmer's own appointee as US ambassador, Lord Peter Mandelson, to a web of potential self-dealing involving Chinese financial and intelligence-linked entities alongside Western political and banking elites. That connection means the investigation into Mountbatten-Windsor carries significant consequences for Starmer and his Labour government — not merely as a constitutional crisis over the monarchy, but as a potential reckoning over what those closest to the prime minister knew, and whether they were involved, or even influenced on decisions related to Beijing.
The arrest is unprecedented in the modern era — the first time a senior member of the royal family, or a former senior member, has been apprehended over potential criminal activity in Britain. Prince William and his wife have said they were “deeply concerned” by the latest Epstein revelations.
