{"id":434877,"date":"2026-02-19T21:15:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T21:15:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/434877\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T21:15:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T21:15:08","slug":"former-prince-andrew-arrested-months-after-losing-royal-status","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/434877\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Prince Andrew arrested months after losing royal status"},"content":{"rendered":"

In his comments early Thursday, the king directly addressed the British public and signed the statement \u201cCharles R\u201d rather than the usual practice of issuing it through Buckingham Palace. <\/p>\n

\u201cI have learned with the deepest concern the news about Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and suspicion of misconduct in public office. What now follows is the full, fair and proper process by which this issue is investigated in the appropriate manner and by the appropriate authorities.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn this, as I have said before, they have our full and wholehearted support and co-operation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Charles did not respond when he was asked for further comment by reporters as he attended an event to mark the start of London Fashion Week.<\/p>\n

The scandal surrounding Mountbatten-Windsor has centered on the accusations of Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who alleged that she was trafficked by Epstein to his powerful friends, including the former prince.<\/p>\n

Mountbatten-Windsor stepped back from active royal duties in 2019 and in 2022 reached a legal settlement with Giuffre for an undisclosed amount after she filed a lawsuit in 2021<\/a> alleging that the former prince sexually abused her when she was 17.<\/p>\n

Mountbatten-Windsor has denied<\/a> having had sex with Giuffre.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, the Giuffre family released a statement responding to Mountbatten-Windsor\u2019s arrest.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday, our broken hearts have been lifted at the news that no one is above the law, not even royalty,\u201d the family said. \u201cFor survivors everywhere, Virginia did this for you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

It is extremely rare for a senior member of the royal family \u2014 or someone who used to hold such status \u2014 to be arrested.<\/p>\n

In 2002, Princess Anne, the sister of the king and Mountbatten-Windsor, was convicted under the Dangerous Dogs Act after her English bull terrier, Dotty, bit two children while walking in Windsor Great Park.<\/p>\n

British media said at the time it was the first instance of a royal being convicted of a criminal offense, but she was not arrested.<\/p>\n

In \u201cmany ways it\u2019s a lot more serious\u201d for the Royal Family than the death of the late Princess Diana, according to NBC News royal commentator Daisy McAndrew.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Queen\u2019s reaction to Diana\u2019s death did damage the standing of the royal family with the British public, but only because they thought she handled it badly and there was a bit of aloofness and coldness,\u201d she said. The fact that Andrew was being investigated by the police made it more serious, she added.<\/p>\n

Her views were echoed by royal historian and author Sarah Gristwood who said she couldn’t “think of anything like this in modern times.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is the first age in which someone who was very recently a senior royal could be treated like any other common criminal,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Plenty of senior figures were imprisoned in the times of royal families such as the Tudors and the Stuarts, who ruled between the 15th and 18th centuries, but only on political grounds, Gristwood said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In his comments early Thursday, the king directly addressed the British public and signed the statement \u201cCharles R\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":434878,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-434877","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-kingdom","8":"tag-gb","9":"tag-great-britain","10":"tag-greatbritain","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434877","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=434877"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434877\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/434878"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=434877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=434877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=434877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}