Former Prince Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was released from police custody on Thursday evening, some 11 hours after police arrived at his door on the Sandringham estate to arrest him on suspicion of misconduct in public office, following claims that he shared confidential government papers with Jeffrey Epstein.
Andrew, who turned 66 on Thursday, had been questioned all day by detectives from Thames Valley Police and looked visibly shaken after his release, as the investigation continues. As the arrest sparked what many see as the monarchy's most serious crisis in nearly four centuries, his brother King Charles III made it clear there would be no special treatment for the disgraced former prince.
No Support from Family
King Charles III insisted that Andrew would face the full weight of British justice and said, "The law must take its course." In a highly unusual and deeply personal statement, King Charles III, 77, said he felt his "deepest concern" after police detained his brother Andrew on Thursday morning.
The King made it clear he would fully back the authorities, pledging his "full and wholehearted support and co-operation" with the ongoing police investigation.
The alleged offence is both rare and serious, one that can be tried before a jury and carries a potential life sentence, although Andrew has not yet been formally charged.
The arrest itself sent shockwaves through the country, unfolding on the monarch's private estate in Norfolk, where Andrew had been staying after being effectively banished from royal duties in the wake of his public fall from grace.
After several days of careful, behind-the-scenes planning, officers from Thames Valley Police moved in just after 8 am, quietly driving through the roads of Sandringham in six unmarked vehicles.
The operation was tightly choreographed. One car headed straight up the main driveway to Wood Farm — the former home of Prince Philip, now being used by Andrew as a temporary refuge — while other vehicles swept around to the rear, sealing off the back entrance of the five-bedroom house.
No Relief for Andrew
As Andrew was taken into custody at Aylsham Police Station, roughly an hour away, officers were simultaneously carrying out a search some 130 miles to the west at Royal Lodge, his former residence on the grounds of Windsor Great Park. His exit from the mansion had been so abrupt that many personal belongings were reportedly left behind.
Notably, neither the King nor Buckingham Palace were alerted beforehand — a clear signal, police sources suggested, that no person, not even a disgraced former prince, would be treated differently.
Just after 7 pm, following a long day of questioning, Andrew was seen leaving custody. Looking weary and red-eyed, he slumped into the back seat of a car driven by privately paid security guards — a moment that starkly captured how far he has fallen from royal standing.
The former Duke of York is accused of passing sensitive and potentially confidential government documents to his friend Jeffrey Epstein while serving as a UK trade envoy between 2001 and 2011.
Calls for a police investigation had intensified in recent days, reaching a breaking point after new details emerged from millions of pages contained in the Epstein Files, released by the US Department of Justice late last month.
