FILE – Britain’s Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly known as Prince Andrew, looks round as he leaves after attending the Easter Matins Service at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, England, April 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, File)

LONDON: The younger brother of King Charles, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor (formerly known as Prince Andrew), was arrested at his home on Sandringham Estate on Thursday morning, his 66th birthday, by plainclothes police after accusations that as a trade envoy he had shared confidential UK govt information with the disgraced financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.No other royal has been arrested in modern British history, making Andrew’s arrest the biggest of many scandals that have plagued the UK’s House of Windsor. Princess Anne had been convicted twice but was merely summoned to court.Six unmarked police vehicles carrying eight detectives turned up at 8 am at Wood Farm, a secluded royal property on the Norfolk estate, and arrested the former prince, who is currently eighth in line to the throne, on suspicion of misconduct in public office. A royal spokesperson said Buckingham Palace had not been informed before the arrest was carried out.Andrew’s security team followed the police convoy, which carted him away to a secret location. Thames Valley Police at 10 am confirmed the arrest of “a man in his sixties from Norfolk” as part of an investigation into the offence of misconduct in public office.The taking into custody of a royal family member as a fallout of revelations from the Epstein files was in sharp contrast to the official response in the US where police have not as yet moved against anyone.The allegations are not linked to accusations regarding Virginia Giuffre, whose family have been calling for Andrew to testify before the US Congress about his links to Jeffrey Epstein. Giuffre, who said she was forced to have sex with Andrew when she was aged 17 after being trafficked by Epstein, took her own life last year.These allegations are related to his time as a UK trade envoy from 2001 to 2011, when he appears to have shared confidential UK govt documents with Epstein, according to the latest tranche of Epstein files released by the US department of justice. Emails show that in Oct 2010 he forwarded official reports of his visits to Singapore, Vietnam, Hong Kong and China, written by his then special assistant Amit Patel, to Epstein. In Dec 2010 he sent Epstein a confidential brief about international investment opportunities in Afghanistan’s Helmand province where reconstruction was being funded by the UK govt.On Thursday Andrew was in police custody being questioned, whilst his Sandringham home and his former home, Royal Lodge in Windsor, were being searched. He moved out of Royal Lodge recently owing to the damage he was doing to the royal family’s reputation, but still has belongings there. The irony is it is the Crown Prosecution Service which will need to decide whether to charge the King’s brother. In the British legal system, criminal offences are considered crimes against the “the Crown”, or monarch.Misconduct in public office is a serious offence which carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.Andrew has always denied any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein. A photo of him kneeling on all fours over a woman appeared in the latest batch of the Epstein files, and a second woman last month alleged she was sent to the UK by Epstein for a sexual encounter with Andrew. “At last, today, our broken hearts have been lifted at the news that no one is above the law, not even royalty,” Giuffre’s siblings said in a statement. “We extend our gratitude to the UK’s Thames Valley Police. He was never a prince.”