‘R v. Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’

The arrest of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor — formerly His Royal Highness the Duke of York — on his 66th birthday is an extraordinary moment in the thousand-year history of the English monarchy. British authorities explain that the arrest “specifically relates to documents within the United States Department of Justice’s Epstein Files.” The last royal to be arrested was Charles I, in 1649. He was tried for treason, convicted, and executed.Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor will not share the decapitated fate of that scion of the House of Stuart, which led to a short-lived republic under Oliver Cromwell. The allegations, though, of “misconduct in a public office” raised by British authorities can carry a sentence of life imprisonment. If charges are filed, the case would be captioned “R v. Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor,” with the R signalling “Rex,” or King. Meaning the suspect’s brother.Thames Valley Police, normally tasked with protecting the royals, took one into custody and declared in a statement that “We have today arrested a man in his sixties from Norfolk on suspicion of misconduct in public office.” Charles III issued a stunning personal note, signed only “Charles R,” and lacking the letterhead of Buckingham Palace. The Crown pledges cooperation and a “fair process” and insists that the “law must take its course.” One royal watcher, Major General Alastair Bruce, tells Sky News that Thursday was the “most shocking day for the British Crown, to have a former prince of the blood arrested.” He calls the crisis “about as critical as the institution could face.” Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor was reputed to be a favorite of Queen Elizabeth II. She approved of his appointment as trade envoy, the perch from which he appears to have shared secrets with Epstein.Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor has denied allegations from the family of one of Epstein’s victims, Virginia Giuffre, that she was trafficked to have sex with the British royal when she was a teenager. In April Giuffre took her own life. Her memoir, “Nobody’s Girl,” was released in October. Giuffre’s family said in a statement on Thursday that “our broken hearts have been lifted at the news that no one is above the law, not even royalty.”Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor, who settled a case with Giuffre at New York in 2022 without admitting wrongdoing, has not spoken about the facts that led to his arrest, which does not appear to be connected to acts of sexual impropriety. The eighth in line to the throne is, as of Thursday evening, “released under investigation.” That means that charges can be handed up at any time. Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor is living at the royal retreat at Sandringham.The allegedly reprobate royal served 22 years in the Royal Navy, including combat operations as a helicopter pilot during the 1982 Falklands War. After Epstein was arrested in 2019, Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor gave a disastrous BBC interview in which he tried to distance himself from the disgraced financier. In October he was stripped of his titles, including “Duke of York.” That Plantagenet position was first created by King Richard II in 1385.Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor is owed the presumption of innocence. The release of the Epstein files, en masse, has, we reckon, done injury to that presumption by harming those never charged with a crime. Now it appears that Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor could be charged for trading on his nation’s secrets. Winston Churchill wrote of Charles I that “A strange destiny had engulfed this King of England.” The same can be said of this brother of the third Charles.

‘R v. Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’

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