Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the former prince, was arrested on Thursday (local time), but his detention was unrelated to the allegations leveled years ago by Virginia Giuffre, who accused him of sexual abuse in the early 2000s.
Instead, his arrest followed the release of millions of documents by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) in connection with the convicted sex offender, Jeffrey Epstein, and Andrew’s association with him. The Epstein files revealed Andrew’s conduct during this tenure as trade envoy for the British government, BBC reported.
According to the report, the January 2026 disclosures included confidential information Andrew shared with Epstein while serving the envoy role. One email between the two showed that after a government-funded trip to Asia in November 2010, Andrew received a series of country reports, which he immediately shared with Epstein. This particular correspondence led to the involvement of Thames police.
In another email, dated 24 December 2010, Andrew sent Epstein a confidential briefing on investment opportunities in the reconstruction of Helmand Province in Afghanistan. The reconstruction at the time was being overseen by the British armed forces and was funded by the UK government.
These revelations have reignited scrutiny of Andrew’s time as trade envoy and added to a long list of controversies that have dogged him over the years. Stripped of his royal titles by King Charles III, Andrew has repeatedly faced public and institutional backlash.
Here’s a look at Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s past controversies:
1. According to UPIa US-based news portal, in 1984, during his four-day trip to Southern California, Andrew picked up a paint sprayer and sprayed it on American and British journalists and the photographers who were covering the royal tour. Later, he wiped his hands on a newspaper and told County Supervisor Kenneth Hahn, ‘I enjoyed that.’ Following this, several reporters said their cameras were damaged.
2. In 2001, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, in court documents, claimed that Epstein forced her to engage in sexual activity with Andrew in his New York mansion, in London, and on his private island in the US Virgin Islands in 2001, when she was just 17 years old. However, according to a Business Insider report, a judge dismissed her allegations and struck them from the record, finding they were “immaterial and impertinent to the central claim” in the case at the time.
3. In 2006, Andrew invited Epstein, his former girlfriend and longtime associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, and disgraced former Hollywood film producer and convicted sex offender Harvey Weinstein to his private residence in Royal Lodge on the Windsor Castle estate. Multiple media reports suggest that this gathering occurred nearly two months after an arrest warrant was issued against Epstein in connection with the sexual assault of a minor.
4. In 2007, Andrew sold Sunninghill Park property near Windsor for 15 million euros, reportedly higher than its market value, to someone who was linked to Timur Kulibayev, a businessman and the son-in-law of Kazakhstan’s then-president. The firm involved in the purchase of the mansion was later implicated in criminal corruption.
5. Between 2010 and 2011, his role as a trade envoy was under scrutiny, and in 2011, the British Royal Family removed him as a trade envoy, The Guardian reported. The announcement by Buckingham Palace came after a period of intense scrutiny in March 2011, when it was reported that Andrew continued his contact with Epstein, who was jailed in 2008 for soliciting a minor for prostitution. The report further revealed that Epstein gave 15,000 euros to Andrew’s former wife, Sarah Ferguson, to help pay off her debts. That episode was seen as just the latest lapse during the prince’s decade-long tenure as a trade envoy. He had already faced criticism for frequently using private jets and helicopters instead of commercial flights for official travel, as well as for maintaining close ties with controversial foreign leaders and business figures.
6. During the same time, Andrew reportedly also hosted Sakher el-Materi, a leading member of the deposed Tunisian dictatorship, at Buckingham Palace, just months before the regime collapsed.
7. In 2019, Andrew’s infamous interview with the BBC The reporter caught the attention. While he denied having sex with Giuffre, who claimed that she was trafficked to him as a minor, Andrew said that Epstein helped him get contacts.
8. In 2020, H6, a Chinese businessman, was described as a close confidant of Andrew and was also invited to the latter’s birthday, sky news reported. The event came to light between 2023 and 2024, when he was barred from entering the UK over national security fears. The 53-page ruling in the H6 case referred to a 2021 document, recovered from a device that listed talking points for a call between the Chinese businessman and Andrew, which also claimed that the former prince “is in a desperate situation and will grab onto anything.”
9. In 2022, Andrew settled a civil lawsuit with Virginia Giuffre in the US. While the lawsuit acknowledged her suffering, it did not hold Andrew accountable, and the compensation amounted to $10 million. In the same year, Queen Elizabeth II stripped Andrew of his military titles, following which, he stopped using the style “His Royal Highness.”
10. In 2025, King Charles III formally stripped Andrew of the “prince” title and was also evicted from his royal residence over his relationship with Epstein.
