The former Prince Andrew was released 12 hours after being arrested by British police on charges of sharing confidential information with pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein between 2010 and 2011 in his former role as a trade emissary for the British government.
The son of Elizabeth II and brother of the current sovereign of the United Kingdom Charles III, the British press reports, is accused of "misconduct in public office".
The searches
The operation began this morning, as emerges from photos released by the British media showing several unmarked police cars and plainclothes officers guarding the entrance to Wood Farm , the residence on the royal estate of Sandringham in Norfolk where the Windsor outcast recently moved after being evicted from the Royal Lodge residence by King Charles in the face of revelations about his brother's involvement in the Epstein scandal.
British police officers also searched the sumptuous cottage adjacent to the royal Windsor Castle. The arrest warrant allows investigators to search all properties and former properties linked to the suspect.
"Let justice take its course," was the laconic comment from King Charles III, a statement William and Kate gave their full support to . "One of the pillars of our system is that no one is above the law," British Prime Minister Keir Starmer told the BBC. These words can only increase the pressure on the former Duke of York, who has fallen definitively from grace in the royal family following revelations contained in files published in the US.
Birthday in prison
Andrew Mountbatten Windsor has not yet been charged or formally charged, but is under investigation for the suspected offence of “unlawful conduct in the exercise of an official function”.
Andrea spent today—it's also his birthday—far from the comforts and luxuries he's always clung to : albeit in a private security room, the BBC reports, equipped with a bathroom and a cot. The investigation surrounding him joins eight other investigations opened or reopened by British police into the potential repercussions of the Epstein scandal in the United Kingdom . These investigations also involve suspicions of sex trafficking involving the private flights of girls once exploited by the American fixer and "shared"—according to the Epstein files—with celebrity friends living on the island, including Andrea.
(Unioneonline/D)