He’s royally screwed!
Ex-Prince Andrew looked shell-shocked Thursday after he was arrested on his 66th birthday and detained for hours over allegations that he shared state secrets with his pedophile pal Jeffrey Epstein.
King Charles III’s little brother — long rumored to be mummy’s favorite — became the first senior British royal in nearly 400 years to be arrested in the UK.
As Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor left the the shabby Thames Valley Police Department in the afternoon, he tried to lay down in the back seat of his chauffeured SUV.
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor leaves Aylsham Police Station in the back of a car on the day he was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office, on February 19, 2026. REUTERSBut photographers still captured his thunderstruck expression.
The disgraced royal — who was stripped of his titles following years of allegations he had sex with trafficking victim Virginia Giuffre when she was just 17 — became the first person to face criminal charges over the US Department of Justice’s release of the Epstein files, which allegedly revealed British trade secrets that he forwarded to the perv in 2010.
He could face life in prison if found guilty of misconduct in public office.
Among the biggest revelations on Thursday:
- King Charles said he would support the “full, fair and proper” judicial process
- President Trump said, “I think it’s so bad for the royal family”
- Andrew was detained for 11 hours and fingerprinted — but not cuffed — before being allowed to walk free
- Cops searched the estates where Andrew had been living
- Guiffre’s family hailed the arrest as justice served for the late sex-trafficking victim
- The popularity of the royal family has dropped dramatically in the UK, with just 47% approving, according to a new poll
Andrew’s arrest is not related to the long-time sex-trafficking allegations — but Thames Valley Police have revealed they are probing claims that Epstein trafficked a woman to the UK to sleep with the royal best known as “Randy Andy.”
The father of Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie has denied wrongdoing and said he has no memory of having sex with Giuffre, claiming instead he went for pizza with his family on the night in question.
The family of Guiffre, who died by suicide last April, praised the arrest, saying, “He was never a prince.”
“Our broken hearts have been lifted at the news that no one is above the law, not even royalty,” their statement read.
The surprise raid on Andrew’s countryside home went down around 8 a.m., with unmarked cars seen surrounding the home.
A convoy of vehicles then left the property – Sandringham Estate, where Andrew has been living since being booted from his longtime Royal Lodge after being stripped of his titles last year – with Andrew inside.
The Royal Lodge was also searched throughout the day, and Andrew was released after about 11 hours in custody.
This undated photo, released and redacted by the U.S. Department of Justice as part of the Jeffrey Epstein files, shows Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly known as Prince Andrew, leaning over an unidentified person. APDuring that time, he was hauled in for questioning like a “common criminal” after being read his rights, according to The Sun. At the station, he was fingerprinted but was not handcuffed while he waited for his lawyer to arrive.
Police first declined to say who they’d detained, disclosing only they had “arrested a man in his sixties from Norfolk on suspicion of misconduct in public office.”
But King Charles and other UK leaders soon confirmed Andrew was in face the man at the center of the police activity – and also vowed that justice would remain blind, despite the defendant’s brother having his name on the very courts.
“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,” King Charles said in a statement about his baby brother.
“Let me state clearly: the law must take its course,” added the king, who was reportedly not alerted about the arrest ahead of time.
Andrew is alleged to have shared confidential documents with Epstein in 2010. REUTERSThe trade files that Andrew allegedly shared with Epstein concerned trips he took to Vietnam and Singapore while serving as Special Representative for International Trade.
He held that role from 2001 to 2011, with his dealings required by law to be completely confidential for life.
But some – like former UK Board of Trade president Vince Cable — have alleged he “ruthlessly exploited” the position.
Andrew has long denied any wrongdoing over his ties to Epstein.
But he paid accuser Giuffre a multi-million civil settlement in 2022 to end a sexual assault lawsuit she filed against him.
The Epstein files released so far have painted a damning picture of Andrew’s relationship with the pedo peddler, who killed himself in a Manhattan prison cell in 2019 after being arrested for child sex trafficking.
The pair allegedly had orgies together, some files show, while gray-haired Andrew was seen getting handsy with young women in photos.
Other files included innuendo-filled emails from Andrew to Epstein and his cadre about women, including one to Ghislaine Maxwell in which he asked whether she’d found him “new inappropriate friends.”
The long march of extremely public humiliations has left Andrew stripped of his royal privileges – including his title, home, stipends and even his gun license.
He still remains eighth in line to the crown, however, with only parliament able to remove him from the line of succession.
Andrew has strenuously denied all of the allegations against him. AFP via Getty ImagesThe last senior member of the royal family to be arrested, King Charles I, was busted in 1647 at the end of the English Civil War and beheaded.
Following news of Andrew’s arrest, UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer insisted “nobody is above the law” when asked by the BBC about Andrew’s arrest.
“One of the core principles in our system is that everybody is equal under the law and nobody is above the law,” he said. “It has to apply in this case in the same way it would in any other case.”
Trump responded to the news on Air Force One, telling reporters, “I think it’s a shame. I think it’s very sad. I think it’s so bad for the royal family. It’s very, very sad. To me, it’s a very sad thing.”
Andrew’s arrest caps years of embarrassment he’s brought to the royal family — which observers say will go down as the greatest scandal to rock the image-obsessed and historically private clan since King Edward VIII abdicated the throne in 1936 so he could marry an American divorcee.
It comes as a new poll shows the popularity of the royal family has plummeted in the UK — with just 47% having a favorable opinion, down 7 points from November, according to Ipsos.
The most popular royals are not the king or queen, but first-in-line Prince William and wife Catherine, the Princess of Wales.






