bitchy | Prince Andrew was arrested at Wood Farm this morning on suspicions of misconduct

In recent days, there’s been a lot of reporting on the multiple police investigations into Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, aka Prince Andrew. Andrew is being investigated on multiple fronts for many crimes, most of which are in relation to Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. I didn’t know how seriously to take any of these investigations, especially because it felt like the British authorities were much more concerned about Andrew passing along classified information to Epstein… rather than Epstein trafficking women and girls to Andrew. Well, I was wrong. The police investigations were legit. Prince Andrew was arrested just a short time ago in Norfolk, at Wood Farm. Andrew has been staying at Wood Farm for the past few weeks after King Charles ordered him to leave Windsor in the dead of night. Today is also Andrew’s 66th birthday.

The police in Britain arrested Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly known as Prince Andrew, over suspicions of misconduct in public office following accusations that he shared confidential information with Jeffrey Epstein while serving as a British trade envoy, according to the BBC.

Thames Valley Police said in a statement that it had “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 police did not name the suspect, as is normal under British law, but the details provided in the police report match what is known about the public misconduct allegations. The police were seen on Thursday morning at the Sandringham residence where Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor is currently living.

While Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor’s links to Mr. Epstein, the convicted sex offender, have been known for years, and resulted in his being stripped of his royal titles last year, the investigation opens up a new chapter in his public fall from grace.

While Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor had already been accused of sexual offenses, a new tranche of documents released by the Department of Justice on Jan. 30 included a number of emails that suggested he may have shared confidential documents when working as a British trade envoy.

In one email, Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor appears to forward to Mr. Epstein official reports about visits he made as envoy to South Asia in 2010, that were sent to him by his assistant.

[From The NY Times]

The Sun’s royal editor Matt Wilkinson reportsthat “six unmarked vehicles” arrived at Wood Farm at around 8 am (GMT) and the Thames Police arrested Andrew. Andrew was/is being kept in custody while multiple search warrants were being executed. Well… I honestly didn’t expect this, and I’m stunned! King Charles must have given the go-ahead (and he probably received a heads-up that the arrest would happen too, I would imagine). It was also clear from Keir Starmer’s comments this week that the British establishment was cutting their ties with Andrew completely and he would not be protected.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images, Backgrid.