So here we are, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was arrested but it goes back a very long way, says Patrick Christys

But let's start with how he got to where he is today, and it goes back a very long way. In 2008, allegations are raised about the then Prince Andrew selling his Sunninghill Park property to a mystery Kazakhstani man for £15million. That was £3million more than the asking price.

In 2010, the buyer was revealed to be Timur Kulibayev, the billionaire's son in law of Kazakhstan's then president. Buckingham Palace has always insisted that Andrew had no direct involvement in the sale of the property.

But in 2012, public suspicion intensified when it was revealed that prosecutors in Italy and Switzerland were examining the deal as part of a broader investigation into a network of oil executives and potential international corruption at the time. Buckingham Palace said that any claims of impropriety on the part of Andrew were completely false.

Then it all went a bit quiet on Andrew for a while, until BBC Panorama revealed that they had done an interview with Virginia Giuffre, who claimed that she was trafficked to Britain by Epstein to have sex with the then Prince Andrew, who has always strenuously denied this allegation.

And today's arrest doesn't relate to anything with Giuffre that led to him doing the infamous BBC Newsnight interview. Andrew gave his version of events to Emily Maitlis, which is safe to say, did not go down that well with the public. And the Palace then released a statement a few days later with the late Queen's approval.

Then, in January 2022, Queen Elizabeth II stripped him of his honorary military titles and royal patronages. He would also no longer use his HRH titles. In February 2022, Andrew reached an out-of-court settlement with Virginia Giuffre, reportedly in the region of £12million. Now, the out-of-court settlement accepted no liability and former Prince Andrew has always strongly rejected claims of wrongdoing.

Of course, it then emerged that the late Queen and indeed the now King Charles may have helped him pay that settlement. But in March 2022, the Queen allowed Andrew to walk down the aisle with her at a service of thanksgiving for Prince Philip. But of course, the story didn't go away.

In April 2024, Netflix released a film called Scoop, all about the Andrew-Maitlis interview. There are also claims made around this time about Andrew's unusual relationship with an alleged Chinese spy. Andrew said that he ceased all contact with the businessman accused of being a Chinese spy after receiving advice from the Government. His office said he had met the man through official channels, and there was nothing of a sensitive nature ever discussed.

Over the course of the last couple of years, there has been a steady drip, drip, drip of Andrew and Epstein's stories, and it emerged that he'd maintained a relationship with Epstein that appeared to go way beyond what he'd claimed in that Emily Maitlis interview. Andrew kept trying to worm his way back in, didn't he?

But Prince William was having absolutely none of it, as we saw from the funeral ceremony for the Duchess of Kent in September last year, where Andrew's trying to maybe crack a couple of jokes and William's just saying, go away, we don't like you anymore.

In October 2025, Andrew voluntarily agreed to stop using his peerage titles, but on the 30th of October, the King initiated a formal process to remove these titles and styles permanently, and in November 2025, a formal Royal Warrant was issued to remove him from the role of the peerage, meaning he is no longer legally entitled to the precedence of a peer.

He was then formally stripped of the title Prince and the style of Royal Highness. He has since been known officially as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.

Well, the last few months have seen Andrew named in the Epstein Files repeatedly, although that in itself, of course, isn't necessarily evidence of any wrongdoing. The email suggested that he spent nine days at Epstein's New York mansion when he said that he just went there to break off the friendship. He's always strenuously denied wrongdoing in connection with Epstein.

The emails suggest that he may have now passed sensitive information onto the paedophile whilst he was a trade envoy, and those are the allegations that the police are now probing.

King Charles booted him out of Royal Lodge. He was living at Wood Farm on the Sandringham estate and there were reports that police had even taken his guns off him.

Buckingham Palace then said that they would cooperate with any police investigations into Andrew, and now several police forces are believed to be involved. And that all culminated today.

Then Thames Valley Police confirmed that Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor has been released under investigation and was pictured in the back of a car looking like a man who thinks he's still got time to go and make that dinner reservation at Pizza Express in Woking for his birthday.

So here we are, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office. Allegations that, if proven, could result in a sentence of up to life in prison.