Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly known to all as Prince Andrew, will likely spend his birthday in a prison cell as London police arrested the disgraced royal after the latest revelations from the most recent Epstein files.
Andrew was arrested early Thursday on February 19th, his birthday, according to NBC News. In a statement released by Thames Valley Police it was announced that officers had arrested a man in his 60s on suspicion of misconduct in public office. If found guilty Andrew could be looking at a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
Photos showed unmarked police cars and plainclothes officers at Andrew’s Sandringham estate around 8am.
Why has Prince Andrew been arrested?
It should come as no surprise that the arrest is linked to the Epstein investigation with police reportedly looking into allegations that Andrew shared sensitive information with the billionaire child sex trafficker back when he was the UK trade envoy.
On Tuesday it was announced that MPs were considering investigating the former prince as per the BBC. The latest files released by the DoJ show that Andrew may have forwarded government documents and commercial information to Epstein. Last week King Charles also announced that he would support a police investigation into the trade envoy claims.
The arrest has nothing to do with the more horrific accusations that have been brought against Andrew in the past regarding his supposed involvement in Epstein’s child trafficking ring.
The arrest comes after years of speculation
Ever since Jeffrey Epstein’s arrest and subsequent death people have been suspicious of Andrew who was close friends with the New York financier. Things only got worse for the prince when photos emerged of him and a 17-year-old Virginia Giuffre. Giuffre claimed that she was trafficked to the prince while underage for sex. Giuffre ended her own life last year.
Andrew denied the claims made by Giuffre at the time in an interview with the BBC which only served to make him look a whole lot more guilty in the eyes of the public. Since then he’s largely remained out of the public eye, retiring from royal work and watching his royal titles slowly be taken away while the rest of his family distanced themselves from him.
There were also claims that the 66-year-old failed to respond to an FBI investigation into the Epstein case back in 2020.
While his arrest is more to do with his sharing of confidential information, the Metropolitan Police have supposedly begun initial inquiries into allegations that his close protection officers “wilfully turned a blind eye” during Andrew’s visits to Epstein’s island. What will come of this investigation is anyone’s guess, but it seems the former prince’s days of being protected from the questions that authorities and the public have been dying to ask might finally be at an end.
Published: Feb 19, 2026 08:10 am