The arrest of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor on Thursday, his 66th birthday, is the newest growth within the yearslong controversy over his ties to the convicted intercourse offender Jeffrey Epstein. Here’s the way it unfolded:
• 2011: After a decade serving as commerce envoy, tasked with selling British enterprise pursuits overseas, Buckingham Palace confirmed that Andrew would step down from the position. Mountbatten-Windsor, then the Duke of York, had come beneath extreme criticism on account of his friendship with Epstein, who had been convicted in 2008 for soliciting prostitution from a minor.
• 2019: Mountbatten-Windsor agreed to a protracted, sit-down interview with BBC Newsnight about his ties to Epstein. He mentioned he traveled to New York in 2010 to finish his friendship with the financier. Asked why that led to him staying at Epstein’s mansion for a number of days, Andrew mentioned “it was a convenient place to stay,” and that he thought talking with Epstein in particular person was “the honorable and right thing to do.” He admitted that his judgment could have been coloured by his “tendency to be too honorable.”
Mountbatten-Windsor additionally mentioned he had “no recollection of ever meeting” Virginia Giuffre, who would later accuse the royal of getting intercourse together with her thrice when she was a young person. Mountbatten-Windsor recommended {that a} picture from 2001 exhibiting himself and Giuffre in Ghislaine Maxwell’s home could have been faked.
• 2022: Giuffre sued Mountbatten-Windsor in a New York courtroom in 2021, accusing him of sexual assault. Despite claiming by no means to have met her, the royal reportedly paid millions of dollars to Giuffre in 2022 to settle the case, with out admitting any duty of wrongdoing.
• April 2025: Giuffre died by suicide.
• October 2025: King Charles III stripped his youthful brother of his title as prince and started the method of evicting him from the royal property at Windsor. Prince Andrew turned Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.
• January 2026: The US Department of Justice’s launch of a trove of paperwork associated to its investigation into Epstein raised additional questions on Mountbatten-Windsor’s dealings with the financier.
• February 2026: The royal was arrested Thursday on suspicion of misconduct in public workplace.