The shell-shocked, disbelieving, haunted face of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor will turn into a part of how his arrest might be remembered.
It is not a very edifying sight. Andrew is slumped within the again seat of a automobile after his launch, fingers steepled, whether or not in prayer or safety.
His collar is up. For that matter, his collar has been felt. Was Andrew’s expression of shock how he seemed when he had a mugshot photograph taken in police custody?
It’s going to turn into the counterpart of that different well-known Andrew image, taken virtually 25 years in the past, of a smiling assured prince, beside a 17-year-old Virginia Giuffre in a London townhouse, when the capital was his playground.
The photograph of Andrew and Virginia Giuffre was taken virtually 25 years in the past [US Department of Justice]
Earlier, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor had turn into the primary senior member of the Royal Household in trendy historical past to have been arrested. It was one other catch your breath second.
It was adopted by an unprecedented assertion from his brother, King Charles. “Let me state clearly: the legislation should take its course,” learn the unambiguous assertion from the King, providing no hiding place or royal get-out clause.
The arrest, on suspicion of misconduct in public workplace, pertains to Andrew’s time because the UK’s commerce consultant between 2001 and 2011. It follows a collection of allegations, prompted by the discharge of the Epstein information, that Andrew shared official paperwork.
That included sharing reviews from commerce visits and a confidential briefing on funding in Afghanistan with the intercourse offender Jeffrey Epstein, and passing a Treasury briefing to a private enterprise contact.
Being a member of the Royal Household will make no authorized distinction to how his case is assessed.
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor has constantly denied any wrongdoing in his associations with Epstein.
The no-nonsense police assertion on Thursday morning was a bluntly worded information earthquake: “The person stays in police custody presently.”
Whoever thought we would learn that sentence when the person in query continues to be within the line of succession to the throne, and in idea, if not in follow, stays a counsellor of state?
Andrew’s clarification of his behaviour will not be in a TV interview. The general public won’t have forgotten the BBC’s Newsnight interview, which stays the final time Andrew spoke publicly about his relationship with Epstein.
This time, it would have been within the presence of a lawyer and the investigating officers, reasonably than beneath the TV lights, and the results of any untruths might be far more severe.
The motion by the police on a winter’s morning in Norfolk was outstanding breaking information – and in addition appeared to have taken the King without warning as a lot as anybody else.
However the story of Andrew’s hyperlinks to Epstein has been many years within the making – and so has Andrew’s downfall, first chipping away at his status earlier than turning into an avalanche of shame.
The affiliation with Epstein meant Andrew misplaced his commerce envoy position in 2011, and after that disastrous Newsnight interview in 2019 he was eliminated as a working royal.
His retreat from public life grew to become much more full after his 2022 settlement together with his accuser Virginia Giuffre.
And in October final yr, as emails revealed that Andrew hadn’t ended his hyperlinks with Epstein when he had claimed, he was stripped of his prince and duke titles, and ultimately shuffled out of his Royal Lodge residence at Windsor.
They have been robust sanctions, eradicating any vestige of royal standing.
The Palace has had some nervous moments in latest occasions, with questions shouted by hecklers suggesting they is perhaps defending Andrew.
The assertion from the King could have sought to attract a line beneath this and separate the Royal Household from no matter may occur to Andrew.
One other essential consider all of that is the general public temper. The Epstein information, and what they’ve revealed concerning a community of these apparently excessive in connections however low on morals, have left individuals feeling indignant at such unaccountable energy and wealth.
It has felt abusive to the general public, that the wealthy and influential seem to have been immune from the results of their behaviour, be it by way of both intercourse or cash. It has appeared to the general public that corruption paid.
Making the arrest much more resonant is that it occurred on Andrew’s 66th birthday. Any candles must wait.
There are references to Andrew’s earlier birthdays within the Epstein information, comparable to a glitzy bash for his fiftieth at St James’s Palace.
One one who needed to flip down the invite for that evening of “mysterious mischief” was Jeffrey Epstein, who was nonetheless beneath home arrest as a part of a sentence for procuring a minor for prostitution.
Andrew celebrated his birthday 12 months in the past as Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, Earl of Inverness and Knight of the Garter. Who is aware of what could have modified by his subsequent birthday.