<\/p>\n
LONDON\u00a0\u2014\u00a0<\/span>The former Prince Andrew was arrested and held for hours by British police Thursday on suspicion of misconduct in public office related to his links to Jeffrey Epstein, an extraordinary move in a country where authorities once sought to shield the royal family from embarrassment.<\/p>\n It was the first time in nearly four centuries that a senior British royal was placed under arrest, and it underscored how deference to the monarchy has eroded in recent years.<\/p>\n King Charles III, whose late mother lived by the motto \u201cNever complain, never explain,\u201d took the unusual step of issuing a statement on the arrest of his brother, now known as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.<\/p>\n \u201cLet me state clearly: the law must take its course,\u2019\u2019 the king said. \u201cAs this process continues, it would not be right for me to comment further on this matter.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n The Thames Valley Police force said Mountbatten-Windsor was released Thursday evening, about 11 hours after he was detained at his home in eastern England. He was photographed in a car leaving the station near his home on the royal Sandringham Estate.<\/p>\n Police said he was released under investigation, meaning he has neither been charged nor exonerated. Police said they had finished searching Mountbatten-Windsor\u2019s home, but officers were still searching his former residence near Windsor Castle.<\/p>\n The police force, which covers areas west of London, including Mountbatten-Windsor\u2019s former home, said Thursday that a man in his 60s from Norfolk in eastern England, had been arrested and was in custody. Police did not identify the suspect, in line with standard procedures in Britain.<\/p>\n Mountbatten-Windsor, 66, moved to the king\u2019s private estate in Norfolk after he was evicted from his longtime home near the castle this month.<\/p>\n Police previously said they were assessing reports that Mountbatten-Windsor sent trade information to Epstein, a wealthy investor and convicted sex offender, in 2010 when the former prince was Britain\u2019s special envoy for international trade. Correspondence between the two men was released by the U.S. Justice Department late last month along with millions of pages of documents from the American investigation into Epstein.<\/p>\n \u201cFollowing a thorough assessment, we have now opened an investigation into this allegation of misconduct in public office,\u2019\u2019 Assistant Chief Constable Oliver Wright said in a statement.<\/p>\n \u201cWe understand the significant public interest in this case, and we will provide updates at the appropriate time,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Police also said they were searching two properties.<\/p>\n Earlier in the day, pictures circulated online that appeared to show unmarked police cars at Wood Farm, Mountbatten-Windsor\u2019s home on the Sandringham Estate, with plainclothes officers gathering outside.<\/p>\n Mountbatten-Windsor has consistently denied any wrongdoing in his association with Epstein.<\/p>\n The allegations being investigated Thursday are separate from those made by Virginia Giuffre, who claimed she was trafficked to Britain to have sex with the prince in 2001, when she was just 17. Giuffre died by suicide last year.<\/p>\n Still, Giuffre\u2019s family praised the arrest, saying that their \u201cbroken hearts have been lifted at the news that no one is above the law, not even royalty.\u201d<\/p>\n The family added: \u201cHe was never a prince. For survivors everywhere, Virginia did this for you.\u201d<\/p>\n A \u2018spectacular fall from grace\u2019<\/b><\/p>\n \u201cThis is the most spectacular fall from grace for a member of the royal family in modern times,\u201d said Craig Prescott, a royal expert at the University of London\u2019s Royal Holloway college, who compared it in severity to the crisis sparked by King Edward VIII\u2019s abdication to marry American divorcee Wallis Simpson.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd it may not be over yet,\u2019\u2019 Prescott added.<\/p>\n Thursday\u2019s arrest came a day after the National Police Chiefs\u2019 Council said it had created a coordination group to assist forces across the U.K. that are assessing whether Epstein and his associates committed crimes in Britain. In addition to the concerns about Mountbatten-Windsor \u2019s correspondence, documents released by the U.S. suggest Epstein may have used his private jet to traffic women to and from Britain.<\/p>\n The documents also rocked British politics. Prime Minister Keir Starmer had to fight off questions about his judgment after the papers revealed that Peter Mandelson, the man he appointed ambassador to the U.S., had a longer and closer relationship with Epstein than was previously disclosed.<\/p>\n London\u2019s Metropolitan Police Service has said it is investigating allegations of misconduct in public office related to Mandelson\u2019s correspondence with Epstein. Mandelson was fired as ambassador in September.<\/p>\n But it is Mountbatten-Windsor\u2019s relationship with Epstein that brought the scandal to the doors of Buckingham Palace and threatened to undermine support for the monarchy.<\/p>\n The last time a senior British royal was arrested was almost 400 years ago during the reign of King Charles I, which saw a growing power struggle between the crown and Parliament.<\/p>\n After the king attempted to arrest lawmakers in the House of Commons in 1642, hostilities erupted into the English Civil War, which ended with victory for the parliamentary forces of Oliver Cromwell.<\/p>\n Charles was arrested, tried, convicted of high treason and beheaded in 1649.<\/p>\n Modern concerns about Mountbatten-Windsor\u2019s links to Epstein have dogged the royal family for more than a decade.<\/p>\n The late Queen Elizabeth II forced her second son to give up royal duties and end his charitable work in 2019 after he tried to explain away his friendship with Epstein during a catastrophic interview with the BBC.<\/p>\n But as concern mounted about what the Epstein files might reveal, the king moved aggressively to insulate the royal family from the fallout.<\/p>\n Since October, Charles has stripped his brother of the right to be called prince, forced him to move out of the royal estate he occupied for more than 20 years and issued a public statement supporting the women and girls abused by Epstein.<\/p>\n Last week, the palace said it was ready to cooperate with police investigating Mountbatten-Windsor.<\/p>\n Charles was forced to act after Mountbatten-Windsor\u2019s correspondence with Epstein torpedoed the former prince\u2019s claims that he severed ties with the financier after Epstein\u2019s 2008 conviction for soliciting a minor for prostitution.<\/p>\n Instead, emails between the two men show Epstein offering to arrange a date between Mountbatten-Windsor and a young Russian woman in 2010, and the then-prince inviting Epstein to dinner at Buckingham Palace.<\/p>\n Additional correspondence appears to show Mountbatten-Windsor sending Epstein reports from a two-week tour of Southeast Asia that he undertook in 2010 as Britain\u2019s trade envoy.<\/p>\n Danny Shaw, an expert on law enforcement in the U.K., told the BBC that in most cases, suspects are held between 12 and 24 hours and then either charged or released pending further investigation.<\/p>\n Mountbatten-Windsor would be placed in \u201ca cell in a custody suite\u201d with just \u201ca bed and a toilet,\u201d where he would wait until his police interview.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019ll be no special treatment for him,\u2033 Shaw said.<\/p>\n Kirka writes for the Associated Press.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.latimes.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" LONDON\u00a0\u2014\u00a0The former Prince Andrew was arrested and held for hours by British police Thursday on suspicion of misconduct in public office related to his links to Jeffrey Epstein, an extraordinary move in a country where authorities once sought to shield the royal family from embarrassment. 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