Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the British former prince, presumably would have been used to travelling with a police escort, although never to a cell.
His arrest on Thursday, and subsequent release from police custody after almost 12 hours of questioning, on suspicion of misconduct in public office has plunged the British monarchy into a crisis unprecedented in modern times.
The last British royal to face arrest was Charles I in 1647.
Mountbatten-Windsor, the errant brother of the British king Charles III, now looks set to go down in history for all the wrong reasons.
READ MORE
He was released under investigation by Thames Valley Police shortly after 7pm. The drama began to unfold shortly after 8am. A convoy of unmarked police Range Rovers and Volvos crunched up the gravel of the driveway to Wood Farm, a secluded property on the royal Sandringham estate in Norfolk where the former prince has been living in recent weeks.
He had moved there in the dead of night at the beginning of the month after his eviction from the sprawling Royal Lodge on the grounds of Windsor Castle, as public anger in Britain erupted over his links to the late US child sex offender, Jeffrey Epstein.
Mountbatten-Windsor has always denied any wrongdoing in his Epstein links, including allegations that a teenage Virginia Giuffre was forced by the late financier to have sex with Andrew 25 years ago.
The former British prince’s arrest on Thursday, however, had nothing to do with allegations of sexual misconduct. Instead, it was based on a suspicion by police that he behaved illegally in his former role as a UK government trade envoy by forwarding confidential documents to Epstein about trade missions and business opportunities.
“The law must take its course,” said the king, as he effectively washed his hands of his younger brother and now, perennially, his biggest problem. The British monarch said the police had his “full and wholehearted support and co-operation”.
UK prime minister Keir Starmer said, in response to questions about Mountbatten-Windsor on Thursday morning, that “nobody is above the law”. Hours later after the arrest, the family of Giuffre, who took her own life last year, said the same, adding “not even royals”.
Mountbatten-Windsor’s close links to Epstein have been known for years – he ended his decade-long trade envoy stint in 2011 after photos emerged of him meeting the convicted sex offender in a New York park. Years later, a photo emerged of him with his arm around the midriff of a teenage Giuffre, whom he had denied meeting.
The crisis deepened in 2019 when the former prince gave a disastrous interview to BBC Newsnight’s then anchor, Emily Maitlis, in which he infamously said he was incapable of sweating. That curious condition would surely have been tested on Thursday when police rolled up his driveway on the morning of his 66th birthday, months after he was stripped of all his royal titles as public disgust grew over his association with Epstein.
The historic arrest was made by Thames Valley Police, one of nine British police forces examining allegations against Mountbatten-Windsor after complaints that followed the release in the US of Epstein’s files. As well as disturbing photos of Mountbatten-Windsor crouched on all fours over a young woman, the files also included emails he forwarded to Epstein in 2010 about his activities as trade envoy.
These included reports prepared by his staff about his trade visits to Singapore, Vietnam, Hong Kong and China. They also included confidential documents about potential business opportunities in the proposed reconstruction of Helmand Province in Afghanistan, where British forces were based.
Mountbatten-Windsor remains eighth in line to the British throne, although calls were growing on Thursday for him to formally abdicate that position, which would cut his last formal vestige of British royalty.
