Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor has been arrested in connection to his relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Formerly known as Prince Andrew, the ex-senior royal was arrested on his 66th birthday over “suspicion of misconduct in public office” following allegations that he forwarded confidential reports to Epstein while working as a trade envoy for the UK, according to the Associated Press.
This arrest comes years after Andrew was accused of sexual abuse by the late Virginia Giuffre, who claimed she was forced to have sex with the royal figure on Epstein’s orders when she was underage. Though Andrew long denied these allegations, he’s been stripped of various titles and honors due to his connection to Epstein over the years.
Here’s a timeline of the ex-Prince Andrew’s most recent legal troubles.
February 19, 2026: Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor is arrested on suspicion of public misconduct while in office. The Times UK reports that “several patrol cars” arrived at Wood Farm on the Sandringham estate in Norfolk just after 8 a.m. The publication also reports that King Charles was not given a heads-up regarding the arrest.
The king released the following statement through Buckingham Palace:
Otherwise, business continues as usual, with the king attending a London Fashion Week event on the day of the arrest.
February 17, 2026: The chairman of the cross-party Business and Trade Committee tells BBC Radio 4 that Members of Parliament (MPs) may investigate Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s actions while serving as a UK trade envoy between 2001 and 2011.
February 9, 2026: Prince William and Kate Middleton acknowledge the Epstein files without naming the Prince of Wales’s uncle. “I can confirm the Prince and Princess have been deeply concerned by the continuing revelations. Their thoughts remain focused on the victims,” a Kensington Palace spokesperson said in a statement to the media, per USA Today.
Thus far the royal couple have not addressed the Andrew of it all.
January 30, 2026: The US Department of Justice uploads another batch of Epstein files to the DOJ repository. According to CBS, Epstein was forwarded reports about overseas trade missions via email by a sender labeled “The Duke” in 2010. One of those forwarded reports was reportedly described as a “confidential brief.”
October 30, 2025: Buckingham Palace announces King Charles’s brother has been stripped of his remaining royal titles and will now go by the moniker Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. He had already been stripped of other titles, including his Duke of York title, earlier in the month, per BBC News.
In addition to losing these honors, Prince Andrew must leave his home in Windsor, the Royal Lodge. Here is the full statement from Buckingham Palace:
October 21, 2025: In her posthumous memoir Nobody’s Girl: A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice, sex trafficking victim advocate Virginia Giuffre reiterates claims she was forced by Jeffrey Epstein to have sex with Prince Andrew.
April 25, 2025: Virginia Giuffre reportedly dies by suicide.
In a sworn deposition taken in 2016, Giuffre alleged she was introduced to Epstein through Ghislaine Maxwell, who is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence for sex crimes related to Epstein’s abuse of underage girls, when she was 16 years old and working as an attendant at the spa at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. Giuffre said she was eventually forced to have sex with Epstein’s friends, including Prince Andrew, at various locations while she was still underage.
After being sued by Giuffre for sexual assault in 2021, Andrew settled the civil suit out of court in February 2022. Without an admission of liability, he agreed to pay Giuffre an undisclosed amount and make a “substantial donation to Ms Giuffre’s charity in support of victims’ rights.”
This article may be updated.
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