Thames Valley Police arrested Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor on Thursday morning on suspicion of misconduct in public office, detaining King Charles III’s younger brother at a cottage on the Sandringham royal estate in Norfolk on his 66th birthday, making him the most senior member of the British royal family to be taken into custody in several centuries, in a development that has sent shockwaves through the monarchy and drawn an immediate and publicly restrained response from the King.
Shortly after 8 a.m., six unmarked police cars arrived at Wood Farm, a five-bedroom farmhouse on the estate in the village of Wolferton. One vehicle drove up the front drive while five others entered through a back entrance.
Around eight plainclothed officers were observed at the property, one carrying a police-issue laptop. An unmarked Norfolk police car was seen leaving the premises shortly afterwards. Simultaneous searches were carried out at Royal Lodge in Berkshire, the Windsor estate property where Mountbatten-Windsor had lived for more than two decades before being evicted by the King in recent weeks.
Thames Valley Police confirmed the arrest in a statement, saying: “As part of the investigation, we have today arrested a man in his sixties from Norfolk on suspicion of misconduct in public office and are carrying out searches at addresses in Berkshire and Norfolk. The man remains in police custody at this time.” The force declined to name the detained individual but the arrest was independently confirmed by multiple senior royal correspondents and Buckingham Palace itself within hours.
The allegation under investigation centres on conduct during Mountbatten-Windsor’s tenure as the United Kingdom’s Special Representative for International Trade and Investment, a role he held between 2001 and 2011.
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Emails contained in the millions of pages of Epstein files released by the U.S. Department of Justice on January 30 appear to show him forwarding confidential official reports on his trade visits, to Singapore, Hong Kong, China, and Vietnam, directly to Epstein, sometimes minutes after receiving them from his own advisers. Trade envoys hold a duty of confidentiality in relation to their official activities, a duty that persists after the conclusion of their tenure. If charged and convicted of misconduct in public office, Mountbatten-Windsor would face a maximum sentence of life imprisonment under English law.
The formal investigation was triggered in part by a complaint submitted to Thames Valley Police by Graham Smith, chief executive of anti-monarchy group Republic, after the January release of Epstein documents. Thames Valley Police confirmed on February 9 that it was assessing the information and determining whether a formal investigation was warranted. Assistant Chief Constable Oliver Wright confirmed on Thursday that “following a thorough assessment, we have now opened an investigation” and noted the significant public interest in the matter.
King Charles responded swiftly and, by the standards of royal communication, with unusual directness.
“I have learned with the deepest concern the news about Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and suspicion of misconduct in public office,” the monarch said in a statement issued by Buckingham Palace. “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. In this, as I have said before, they have our full and wholehearted support and co-operation. Let me state clearly: the law must take its course.” The King did not take questions from journalists who shouted them as he attended an event at London Fashion Week later in the afternoon, carrying on with a pre-scheduled public engagement as the family’s most acute crisis in living memory played out in the courts and on front pages.
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Neither the King nor Buckingham Palace had been informed in advance of the arrest. The palace statement was issued after the fact. It was notably consistent with language the institution had used earlier this month, when Buckingham Palace said it stood ready to support Thames Valley Police in any investigation into Mountbatten-Windsor.
The family of Virginia Giuffre, the American woman who accused Mountbatten-Windsor of sexually abusing her on three occasions when she was a minor, allegations he has consistently denied, responded with a statement that was pointed in both its relief and its bitterness.
“Today, our broken hearts have been lifted at the news that no one is above the law, not even royalty,” said Giuffre’s siblings, Sky and Amanda Roberts, and Danny and Lanette Wilson. “He was never a prince. For survivors everywhere, Virginia did this for you.” Giuffre died by suicide in April 2025 at the age of 41, ten months before the arrest she had long sought to see.
Historians and royal analysts noted that the arrest appeared to be the first of a senior British royal since King Charles I, who was placed under house arrest in 1647 by Oliver Cromwell during the English Civil War. In modern times, nothing comparable had occurred. Princess Anne was convicted under the Dangerous Dogs Act in 2002, but was not arrested in connection with that offence.
No charge had been announced as of Thursday afternoon. Searches of both Wood Farm and Royal Lodge were continuing.
