LONDON – Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor may have been released from custody, but his legal saga is far from over.
On Friday, police continued to search his residence at Royal Lodge, Windsor. It was where she lived before her brother, King Charles III, asked her to leave last year amid mounting pressure over her relationship with the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Police have now completed their search of Wood Farm, on the Royal Sandringham Estate, where Mountbatten-Windsor moved earlier this month, according to Thames Valley Police.
His acquittal is rare in cases of alleged crime. It does not mean that he has been convicted – and it does not mean that he has been released on bail, so there are no “conditions” for his release. It simply indicates that the police have completed this round of investigation and are continuing their investigation.
The ex-prince’s release “through an investigation will show that this is going to be a long-term process,” said Dal Babu, a former chief superintendent of London’s Metropolitan Police. It means “he is suspected of a crime, he has not been formally charged, and there are no conditions. There is no timeline for how long the investigation will take.”
British authorities moved in after the US Department of Justice released another 3.5 million files related to Epstein. Some of the documents detail communications between Epstein and the former prince while serving as British trade ambassador.
After his arrest on suspicion of misconduct in public office, Mountbatten-Windsor was taken to Aylsham police station, in the east of England. He was released “under investigation” hours later, and was photographed lying in the back of a car, staring into space with his hands folded.
The former Prince Andrew can be brought back for further questioning or “rearrested” if the police deem it necessary. He can also be asked other lines of questioning.
Moutbatten-Windsor has previously denied any wrongdoing related to Epstein but has not commented on the allegations arising from the recent release of the Epstein files.
After years of scrutiny and criticism over her relationship with Epstein, her arrest was the first in the monarchy since Charles I, who was beheaded for treason in 1649.
His story reveals the complex and often tumultuous relationship between Britain’s democratically elected government and its ceremonial but still powerful monarchy.
The 77-year-old king was not forewarned of his brother’s impending arrest, a palace official told NBC News. But the National Council of Police Officers, Britain’s national council that coordinates law enforcement, told the government, specifically the Home Office, 30 minutes earlier “in accordance with standard procedure,” the Thames Valley Police, arrested, in a statement.
Ultimately, at some point the police and the Crown Prosecution Service will have to decide whether or not to charge Mountbatten-Windsor, a decision that could take weeks or months.
The name of this authority – the Crown Prosecution Service, or CPS – reflects how extraordinary these cases are. Although the British monarchy has less political power on a day-to-day basis, the organs of the state still derive their authority from the throne.
If the former prince were to stand trial, it would be listed as “The King -v- Mountbatten-Windsor” – pitting his younger brother against the greater power wielded by his older sibling.
That would be a legal, royal, cultural and global drama on an unprecedented scale.
Even the arrest itself generated newspaper headlines and social media headlines around the world. The Times, an archival British newspaper, played it straight, “Andrew’s Arrest,” while the New York Post chose the extreme: “THE LORD OF DARKNESS.”
Mountbatten-Windsor has faced criticism and criticism since at least 2011, when outrage erupted over her continued friendship with a disgraced financier who had just served 13 months for child prostitution and solicitation.
One of the biggest survivors of Epstein’s sexual abuse, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, alleges that the financier smuggled her to his powerful friends, including Mountbatten-Windsor whom she sued in 2021 saying the former prince sexually abused her when she was 17.
Mountbatten-Windsor, who has always denied meeting with Giuffre, reached a legal agreement with him for an undisclosed fee in 2022. It contained no admission of guilt or apology.
She has been among the royal family’s most anonymous members since at least 2019 – when a controversial BBC interview revealed her relationship with Epstein. That’s just too deep.
A poll by YouGov on Friday found that 82% of Britons now believe that the late Queen Elizabeth II’s son should be removed from the line of succession. He is currently 8th in line to the British throne.
