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ANDREW MOUNTBATTEN-WINDSOR left police custody last night after he was arrested yesterday morning on suspicion of misconduct in public office.
The former prince was detained on his 66th birthday over allegations he shared sensitive information with paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein while serving as the UK’s trade envoy.
Mountbatten-Windsor, who is the first senior royal in modern history to be arrested, was held in custody for around 11 hours before he was released under investigation by Thames Valley Police.
The police force previously said it was reviewing allegations that a woman was trafficked to the UK by Epstein to have a sexual encounter with Mountbatten-Windsor, and claims he shared sensitive information with the paedophile while serving as the UK’s trade envoy.
Mountbatten-Windsor has denied any wrongdoing over his Epstein links, but has not directly responded to the latest allegations.
He was pictured slouching and looking drained and exhausted in the back of a vehicle as he left Aylsham police station in Norfolk last night.
Thames Valley Police said searches at a property in Norfolk – Mountbatten-Windsor’s home on the Sandringham Estate – have now concluded, but that those they were carrying out at a Berkshire address, his former residence Royal Lodge on the Windsor estate, will continue.
In a statement released shortly after his brother’s arrest, Britain’s King Charles said the police “have our full and wholehearted support and co-operation”.
“Let me state clearly: the law must take its course,” he added.
Unsurprisingly, Mountbatten-Windsor’s arrest is the top story on nearly all the front pages of Britain’s newspapers this morning.
Both The Times and the Daily Telegraph use the image of him slouched in the back of a car looking shocked after leaving police custody to accompany their stories on his arrest.
‘Downfall’ is the Daily Mail’s one-word headline next to the same photo of Mountbatten-Windsor. The paper describes him as looking “haggard, shamed and haunted” in the same photograph and says his arrest “plunged the modern monarchy into its gravest peril”.
The Daily Express, the i and the Guardian all quote King Charles’ statement that “the law must take its course” on their front pages, with the latter also running an editorial which claims that the “old royal model – of discreet exile and silence – is finished”.
The Mirror uses the same quote from King Charles as their headline, alongside the same photo of Mountbatten-Windsor. It describes him as “hiding in his car”, with the paper’s royal editor calling his arrest “one of the monarchy’s darkest days”.
The Daily Star carries the same image of Mountbatten-Windsor “looking tired” after leaving police custody, with the headline ‘Taxi for Andy’.
‘Now he’s sweating’ is the Sun’s headline, with the same image of Mountbatten-Windsor. The paper notes that he is the first British royal to be arrested since Charles I in 1647.
The headline is a reference to the former prince’s infamous BBC Newsnight interview in 2019. When questioned about the late Virginia Giuffre’s allegation that she met him at a London nightclub dancing and sweating before he abused her, Mountbatten-Windsor claimed that he was unable to sweat due to a medical condition.
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