Andrew Mountbatten Windsor has been arrested!

Thames Valley Police have arrested a member of the British Royal family! 

The King’s brother, disgraced (former Prince) Andrew Mountbatten Windsor has been arrested on charges of the serious offence of Misconduct in Public Office!  This charge carries a maximum sentence of Life in Prison.

Andrew has been arrested rather than being invited to go to a police station and be interviewed under caution.  That is widely used by police rather than actually arresting someone.  So this sudden arrest will have come as quite a nasty surprise to Andrew.  The police can now do searches without Andrew having had any notice that they may be coming.

These charges are related to allegations that Andrew shared confidential sensitive information with Jeffrey Epstein when he (Andrew) was acting as a Trade Envoy for the UK.  Andrew travelled abroad on behalf of the UK Government and was given confidential documents when he was working in that capacity.  Knowledge of these trade discussions might have been very advantageous to the Financier, Jeffrey Epstein.  Apparently the released Epstein files indicate that Andrew may have passed on confidential information to Epstein following his visits as trade envoy to Vietnam, Singapore and China. Or it could have been information about investment opportunities in the reconstruction of Helmand Province in Afghanistan.

This arrest allows police to search residences and seize documents.  The police say they are currently carrying out searches at addresses in Berkshire and Norfolk (Royal properties!).
Andrew can be held in custody for a maximum of 96 hours for questioning and might then be released on bail.

Andrew is 8th in line of succession to the British Crown, so this really is a stunning development isn’t it?

I need a cuppa tea!

(This information is from the BBC News, on TV, who were reporting the story when it first broke).