{"id":490014,"date":"2026-02-19T11:29:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T11:29:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/490014\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T11:29:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T11:29:11","slug":"andrew-mountbatten-windsor-arrested-on-suspicion-of-misconduct-in-public-office","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/490014\/","title":{"rendered":"Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office"},"content":{"rendered":"

52m agoThu 19 Feb 2026 at 10:36amWhat we know so far\"Shari<\/p>\n

The BBC is reporting that Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was arrested at his eastern England home,<\/p>\n

Thames Valley Police have confirmed they arrested a man in his 60s in Norfolk on Thursday morning but have not named him.<\/p>\n

Police said he was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office and that they are carrying out searches at addresses in Berkshire and Norfolk.<\/p>\n

It comes after Thames Valley Police began investigating allegations of passing confidential government documents to Jeffrey Epstein.<\/p>\n

Reports suggest that police arrived in six unmarked cars with about eight plain-clothes officers, and searches are also ongoing at those addresses.<\/p>\n

Join us to follow this story live.<\/p>\n

10m agoThu 19 Feb 2026 at 11:17amHow did we get here?\"Riley<\/p>\n

By Riley Stuart in London<\/p>\n

The late Queen Elizabeth II’s second son, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, has been the subject of a lot of allegations lately.<\/p>\n

Most of the accusations swirling about the former prince have a common thread, in that they stem from his friendship with the convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.<\/p>\n

His arrest today relates to a specific police investigation. Let me step you through it:<\/p>\n

UK police have arrested Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor (once known as Prince Andrew) as part of an investigation into misconduct in a public officeUnder UK law, police must have reasonable grounds to suspect a crime has been committed before arresting someone<\/p>\n

That’s what happened today. But why?<\/p>\n

As well as being a member of the royal family, Mr Mountbatten-Windsor served as a trade commissioner for the UK from 2001 for around a decadeThe so-called Epstein files, some of which were released by the US Department of Justice earlier this month, sparked allegations Mr Mountbatten-Windsor had sent sensitive UK government information to Epstein during that periodThat, if true, would be illegal<\/p>\n

These allegations only surfaced this month, and that’s what the current police investigation and arrest relate to.<\/p>\n

Mr Mountbatten-Windsor has faced multiple allegations that he raped at least one child trafficked by Epstein. Those have been around for years, and he has always denied them.<\/p>\n

Those accusations saw Mr Mountbatten-Windsor, who was previously a senior royal, step back from official duties in 2019 and last year, he was stripped of his royal titles and grace-and-favour home near London.<\/p>\n

21m agoThu 19 Feb 2026 at 11:06am<\/p>\n

‘Nobody is above the law’: Starmer\"Rudi<\/p>\n

Just hours before Andrew’s arrest, British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer told the BBC that “nobody is above the law” when he was asked about the former prince.<\/p>\n

The Labour prime minister told BBC Breakfast the principle was very important and “has to apply in this case in the same way it would in any other case”.<\/p>\n

32m agoThu 19 Feb 2026 at 10:55am<\/p>\n

British police promised a speedy decision on Andrew a week ago\"Rudi<\/p>\n

A week ago, Thames Valley Police promised to make a quick decision on whether to launch a full investigation into allegations that Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor shared confidential trade documents with convicted sex-offender Jeffrey Epstein.<\/p>\n

For more on this story, please read below<\/p>\n

45m agoThu 19 Feb 2026 at 10:43amWhat police have said\"Rudi<\/p>\n

Thames Valley Police have said, as part of an investigation, they have arrested a man in his 60s from Norfolk on suspicion of misconduct in public office and are carrying out searches at addresses in Berkshire and Norfolk.<\/p>\n

“The man remains in police custody at this time,” the statement said.<\/p>\n

“We will not be naming the arrested man, as per national guidance.”<\/p>\n

Assistant Chief Constable Oliver Wright said that, following a thorough assessment, the police have opened an investigation into this allegation of misconduct in public office.<\/p>\n

“It is important that we protect the integrity and objectivity of our investigation as we work with our partners to investigate this alleged offence,” he said.<\/p>\n

“We understand the significant public interest in this case, and we will provide updates at the appropriate time.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"52m agoThu 19 Feb 2026 at 10:36amWhat we know so far The BBC is reporting that Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":490015,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[149661,43,5634,44,149659,235677,41,39,42,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-490014","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-andrew-mountbatten-windsor","9":"tag-headlines","10":"tag-jeffrey-epstein","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-sandringham-estate","13":"tag-thames-valley-police","14":"tag-top-news","15":"tag-top-stories","16":"tag-topnews","17":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=490014"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490014\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/490015"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=490014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=490014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=490014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}