It’s Not Just Andrew, the Entire Monarchy Is Rotten

Fire up your ‘allegedlys’ and brush up on media law: for the first time since the arrest of Charles I, a member of the royal family has been taken into custody.

Yesterday, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor (of Epstein files fame) was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office, relating to allegations stemming from his time as an international trade envoy.

At 8am, Mountbatten-Windsor got a knock on the door at his new digs on the Sandringham Estate. By 9am, he was being driven away by the old bill, and he was released pending investigation later that evening. It was the erstwhile Duke of York’s 66th birthday – which perhaps puts the one I spent crying on a nightbus into perspective.

So, what’s he been pinched for? Though the king’s younger brother has a particular knack for being a royal prick (apparently the princely toddler was known for kicking dogs and taunting staff), yesterday’s arrest follows the release of emails appearing to show then-prince and trade envoy leaking confidential information to Jeffrey Epstein.

Though ‘special representative for international trade and investment’ is basically a made-up job for the rich, connected and sadly untalented, the role brought Mountbatten-Windsor into contact with politicians and government officials from around the world, and gave him access to highly sensitive information.

Correspondence released in the US Department of Justice’s Epstein infodump appears to show Mountbatten-Windsor forwarding reports of his trips to southeast Asia, and emailing his itinerary for a stint in China. But the most serious alleged leak concerns a confidential brief regarding commercial opportunities in Helmand province, Afghanistan.

Then-prince Andrew allegedly emailed the document to Epstein, two years after the financier was convicted for child sex offences, saying that it was a “confidential brief produced by the Provincial Reconstruction Team in Helmand Province”.

The crime of misconduct in public office carries a sentence of up to a life term. Mountbatten-Windsor has previously denied all wrongdoing.

How big of a problem is this for King Charles (the present, not the beheaded)? After settling a civil lawsuit with Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre, the Firm – the courtiers, bureaucrats, comms advisers and secretaries that comprise the palace machine – has worked to put distance between Andrew and the rest of the royal family.

In 2022, Elizabeth II stripped him of his military roles and patronages, and he stopped using the style HRH. Last year, Charles III removed Andrew’s remaining royal styles and honours and limited his use of titles and peerages. He moved out of Royal Lodge, a Crown Estate property, and took up private accommodation on the Sandringham estate.

Tellingly, in his official statement yesterday, Charles referred to his brother only by full name, and said that the law “must take its course”.

The trouble for Charles is that Andrew isn’t just a particularly embarrassing branch on the Windsor family tree; senior royals played an active role in shielding him from accountability. The settlement with Giuffre (who, don’t forget, Andrew claimed never to have even met) was in the region of £12m, and understood to have been put up by the late-queen and Duke of Edinburgh.

What’s more, emails in the Epstein files appear to confirm that a photograph of Mountbatten-Windsor with his arm around Giuffre’s waist is genuine (Andrew suggested that it may have been doctored). Giuffre died in April 2025. She had alleged that Mountbatten-Windsor had sex with her three times, at the encouragement of Ghislaine Maxwell.

If it turns out that Andrew lied to the British public about not having sex with Giuffre, a teenage trafficking victim, then the institution of the monarchy must also be considered complicit.