Author: Michael Holden and Sam Tabachriti
LONDON, Feb 19 (Reuters) – King Charles’ brother Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was arrested on Thursday on suspicion of misconduct in public office after he was accused of sending classified government documents to Jeffrey Epstein, the BBC reported.
Thames Valley Police said earlier this month it was considering allegations Mountbatten-Windsor passed documents to a convicted sex offender, according to documents released by the US government.
Thames Valley Police said in a statement on X that “Thames Valley Police has launched an investigation into misconduct by a public official.”
“A man in his sixties from Norfolk has been arrested and remains in police custody. In line with national guidance we will not be naming the arrested man.”
Earlier newspaper reports said six unmarked police cars and about eight plainclothes officers arrived at Wood Farm on the Sandringham estate in eastern England, where Mountbatten-Windsor now lives and would have turned 66 on Thursday.
The former prince, the second son of the late Queen Elizabeth, has always denied any wrongdoing with Epstein and said he regrets their friendship. But he has not responded to a request for comment since the latest documents were released.
Buckingham Palace had no immediate comment.
The Mountbatten-Windsor affair was reported to police by anti-monarchy campaign group Republic after the release of more than 3 million pages of documents relating to Epstein, who was convicted in 2008 of soliciting underage prostitution.
The documents show that Mountbatten-Windsor forwarded reports to Epstein in 2010 about Vietnam, Singapore and other places he visited while on official travel.
Thames Valley Police and the Crown Prosecution Service have previously said they were discussing the case. Police said the charge of misconduct in public office involved “exceptional complexities” and was a “common law” offense and therefore not covered by statutory regulations.
(Reporting by Sam Tabariti and Michael Holden; Editing by Kate Holden and Janet Lawrence)
