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CNN International: The Breaking News - Police Arrest Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. Aired 6:05-7a ET

Aired February 19, 2026 - 06:05   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[06:05:00]

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN MANAGING EDITOR, CNN ABU DHABI & ANCHOR: Well, hello, and welcome to CNN's continuing breaking news coverage. I'm Becky Anderson in Abu Dhabi. Police in The United Kingdom have arrested Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly known as Prince Andrew, the brother of King Charles. Police say he has been arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office.

[06:10:00]

This follows a report that Andrew, while Prince allegedly shared confidential information with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein when he served as trade envoy for the United Kingdom. In a statement, Thames Valley Police said as part of the investigation we have today arrested a man in his 60s from Norfolk on suspicion of misconduct in public office and are carrying out searches at addresses in Berkshire and Norfolk. The man remains in police custody at this time, they say.

Mountbatten-Windsor has previously denied any wrongdoing over his ties to the disgraced financier. CNN's Royal Correspondent Max Foster tracking this story live for us, and he joins us now. Max, good to have you. And what do we know about the arrest at this hour?

MAX FOSTER, CNN ROYAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it started when photographs were taken of what appeared to be police going into the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk, which is the king's private estate. So it's not a public estate, but that's where Andrew's being relocated into temporary accommodation at the moment. And then, we hear from Thames Valley Police who are investigating his conduct in public office. He has been arrested under that investigation, and he has been taken to a police station or he's being questioned there. The -- this specifically applies, obviously, to his role as trade on envoy, which is a government position where you represent the U.K. on trade missions. And the Epstein document suggests that he shared confidential documents from those visits with Jeffrey Epstein.

So it's very specific to that part of his work, but it obviously applies to his time when he was a senior working royal with an office in Buckingham Palace. So it does have huge implications for the monarchy, and I can't think of another time in modern history where anyone's been arrested. If we think back, Becky, to 2002, you remember Princess Anne was fined under the Dangerous Dogs Act. She wasn't arrested. I think we're probably going back to the English Civil War when someone in the royal family was actually detained in the 1600s during that uprising in the U.K. So it's an extraordinary situation.

ANDERSON: Yeah. It is historic and frankly unprecedented, Max. Mountbatten-Windsor had previously denied any wrongdoing over his ties to the disgraced financier. Has he specifically responded in the past to any misconduct in public office. In the past, it appears to me that these allegations that he has responded to have been over the issues of missed -- of sexual misconduct rather than misconduct in public office. What do we know?

FOSTER: Well, he famously said that he broke off ties with Epstein after he learned of the crimes. We now learned that that was not the case because the latest drop of Epstein files showed that he stayed in contact after Epstein was even released from prison. So it's very difficult to understand what his story is, because it's been constantly undermined. We have repeatedly reached out to him and his office to comment since then, since his most recent statements, and we haven't had anything at all.

And of course, now he can't say anything, because he's under police investigation. And he could very well be held -- he typically, when someone's arrested, they can be held for 12 to 24 hours and then either released for further investigation or charged. And we -- you can imagine he would be held in a cell in a police station between the interviews, and he wouldn't be given any special treatment whatsoever. In fact, I think the police will be going out of their way, particularly in the corruption case to show that he isn't getting any special treatment. And if he calls for any, that would obviously implicate him as well.

The king has made clear that he will or the office at Buckingham Palace would certainly cooperate with any investigation, so he's not going to be getting involved either, particularly as he's Head of the Judiciary anyway.

ANDERSON: Yeah. And King Charles was, and I very specifically quote here, has said that "He is ready to support police as they assess the claim that Andrew shared confidential material with Epstein this out about a week or so ago." As you say, nothing from the royal family since the news broke, that Andrew had been arrested. The police statement released an hour or so ago, saying the man not named by the police in this statement remains in custody at this time. Is it clear where he is specifically at this point?

FOSTER: Well, you'd assume that Thames Valley Police, which doesn't cover Sandringham, will be coordinating with Norfolk Police.

[06:15:00]

Either he's being taken to Thames Valley area or he's being interviewed in Norfolk. So, there are multiple police investigations now or not investigations, inquiries rather, taking place across the U.K. into the Epstein files. And Andrew is, suggested in many of those inquiries, and it's being coordinated nationally now as well with the National Crime Agency. So it's not clear exactly where he'd be taken. But if this is a very complex historic case, you would imagine that the interviews would be extraordinarily long. So we're looking at, I would imagine, at least 24 hours questioning and, at which point, he'll have to be charged if they want to keep him any longer.

ANDERSON: And the police also saying they are carrying out searches at addresses in Berkshire and in Norfolk. Berkshire, to be clear, is where Windsor Castle is located, in the Windsor Estate. The county of Norfolk, of course, home to King Charles' estate Sandringham, where Andrew now resides. He has been there, living there, Max. Just, just fill us in, just for a very short period of time. Can you just lay the table as it were on just what has been happening in the royal family, since this Epstein sort of saga has blown up?

FOSTER: So, generally, when you ask the palace for any comment on Andrew, they'll say they don't represent him anymore because he's not a working royal. I mean, obviously, journalist issue with that is that all of these allegations apply to a time when he was working royal. So we have reached out to the palace today. We haven't heard anything. I imagine now that it's a police case, they will just say it's a matter for the police. They wouldn't want to interfere with that investigation at all. He is the king. He was due to move to Sandringham or moved out of Windsor in his huge mansion there. At the end of last year, he wasn't. When the latest drop of Epstein papers came in, then he was scrambled really to Sandringham. His house isn't ready there, so he's in temporary accommodation there.

I think what we're seeing is essentially the monarchy going into self- protection mode, trying to distance themselves as much as possible as they can from Andrew. And we'll -- you would have seen, Becky, all of these recent royal visits, William to Saudi Arabia, the king at various locations in the U.K., people shouting out questions about Andrew. I mean, their basic function is to promote causes and to be figureheads. And they've been completely swamped by this story. Their professional work is literally paralyzed because they can't do anything without this being brought up.

So it's a big problem for the monarchy right now, if they can't actually operate with this without this overshadowing it. But now we have an arrest and a very complicated investigation. You've got months, if not years of this, and it does put a -- the monarchy in a very difficult position. And we also know that police protection officers are also being investigated at this point because wherever Andrew went, he had police with him. And now there's questions being asked about whether or not they turned a blind eye to anything they might have seen on Epstein's Island, for example.

ANDERSON: Max Foster is in London. Max, I'm going to let you go work your sources. We'll have you back, as soon as you have more. Thank you for that.

Joining me now from London Broadcaster and Royal Watcher, Bidisha Mamata. And Bidisha, I mean, this is absolutely remarkable. Just how unprecedented though is this in terms of the U.K. royal family?

BIDISHA MAMATA, BROADCASTER AND ROYAL WATCHER: It's completely and utterly totally staggering. I share everyone else's sense of disbelief and also our horror, disappointment, and our dark curiosity about it. This is not just scandal at the level of petty gossip. This is morally scandalous and also constitutionally scandalous. Everything that we just heard is absolutely true. This is extremely damaging, and it cannot simply be brazened out by ignoring it. I think that the royal family are now going to completely close ranks and that Andrew is and surely must be an absolute pariah.

By the time that you've lost all your titles, all your honors, all your reputation, by the time your linen has been aired so thoroughly that even your daily messages to your pals, your cronies, who are themselves utterly and totally completely dishonored and disgraced. Once all that's out in the public, where is there for you to go but to end up chatting to police officers about what exactly went on?

[06:20:00]

ANDERSON: I mean, it was breaking news when his brother, the king, stripped him of his titles. I just wonder, did Royal Watchers such as yourself think at the time that that would be the extent of the repercussions?

MAMATA: Yes. Yes. Absolutely. I remember giving interviews and saying, well, look, at the end of the day, everyone protects their own, don't they? Power and privilege, it's like this. It's been this way since 30,000 years. I was completely wrong in that, and it's really a very strong message that I believe the royal family are sending out, not to the public so much as to Andrew, saying, look. You are now in the hands of not us. We are not going to protect you.

But it is also a message to the public because the public all over the world are so enthralled by this because, of course, the release of these files implicates so many people, and it implies that in the world there are certain type of person that you can mistreat and a certain type of person who mistreats others and thinks they can get away with it, because of privilege, money, power, connections. They think they can act with impunity and do whatever they like, and now we're seeing that even the brother of the King of England can end up being hustled away by plainclothes police officers who arrive when he's celebrating his birthday.

ANDERSON: Yeah. I mean, it is his 66th birthday. You're right to point that out. Can we just be clear about what Andrew has said to date, about these allegations that have surfaced in the Epstein files and in the cases, of course, over the years?

MAMATA: Yes. The details of what Andrew himself has said have actually made this much muddier for him than it could and should and would have been. First of all, he was saying that, well, this woman, the late Virginia Giuffre, well, he didn't know her. The photographs might have been a fake, or maybe he did know her, and it's just a social event, and that photograph may or may not be fake, but if it's real, it just shows people meeting each other. And then he said that after Epstein's earlier conviction, well, he completely blanked him and he traveled. They went to Central Park together and he ended the friendship. That was it.

He was utterly disgusted and disapproving. And then, of course, we find out that none of those things are the case at all. The photograph that we see was real. He didn't end the friendship. In fact, they were in contact really very close after that initial police action against Epstein. They stayed in close touch. Not just that, but they messaged back and forth continually. They were meeting. They both wanted access from each other. Andrew wanted Epstein's glamour and connections and, of course, his access to all the things he was interested in. Epstein also wanted a way into the royal family, angling for trips to Balmoral to Buckingham Palace, and that is what is so incredibly incriminating that this has not been a blanket denial from the beginning by Andrew.

It's been a series of fudges, and then he gave that notorious interview to the BBC in which he said, I've been described as being very sweaty. Well, actually, I have a strange condition in which I don't sweat. All of these very bizarre claims that were damaging to him. The royal family has been really quite silent all the way through this, but even they have begun in the last two weeks releasing very strong statements. The moment the royal family are releasing a statement saying, as if there's an ex-investigation, we're going to contribute. That's it.

ANDERSON: Yeah. And you mentioned, the Buckingham Palace statement about supporting the police. I just wonder, whether that is enough at this point. I mean, what will the king and the rest of the royal family do next, do you believe?

MAMATA: I think, and this is pure conjecture on my part, of course, that there are meetings happening as we're speaking and that they are saying, right. Andrew is completely out. Publicly and personally and professionally, we are going to put absolute distance. And if there are any panicked emails or messages coming from Andrew into the family circle, they will be intercepted by the royal family's own advisers. They will go into damage protection mode.

The royal family is a centuries long medieval institution that is far bigger than any individual, and I can promise you the royal family will survive. Andrew may not.

[06:25:00]

ANDERSON: Just the last question for you, before I let you go at this point and we take a very short break. His ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, also implicated in the Epstein files, his children Beatrice and Eugenie mentioned by their mother, allegedly in an email to Jeffrey Epstein. I just wonder what their fate or the impact on his family will be, his immediate family, will be in all of this.

MAMATA: As a woman, that revelation that Sarah Ferguson was sort of inviting her own daughters along to meet and hang out with Epstein, is the most shocking element of it to me. I can't imagine the sense of pain, humiliation, embarrassment, besmirchment that the two princesses may well have because, of course, your parents have been implicated in this incredibly public and damaging and nasty affair. But they're also your parents, and this is the terrible schism for the royal family as a whole. They are a firm. They're a corporation. They're a business. They are Britain's soft power, and yet they're also a family. There's nothing good that can come from this at all. I can only imagine what they're feeling. ANDERSON: For the time being, we're going to let you go. Your insight and analysis is extremely important. Thank you very much indeed for joining us, and we will continue to monitor developments.

In our breaking news, today, the arrest of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. We'll get you more on that as we get it. We're taking a very short break back after this.

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[06:30:00]

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN breaking news.

ANDERSON: Well, we are following major breaking news out of the United Kingdom. Today, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly Prince Andrew, has been arrested and was taken into custody earlier today. He's accused of allegedly sharing confidential information with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein while he served as a trade envoy for the United Kingdom.

Mountbatten-Windsor has previously denied any wrongdoing over his ties to the disgraced financier. King Charles had stripped his brother of his titles back in October and has since evicted him from his home on the Windsor estate. Let's get right to CNN's Salma Abdelaziz working the phones, in London, tracking what is this fast moving story. Salma, what do we know very specifically at this point about the arrest?

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, what we know, of course, is that Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor is now in police custody. Where? We don't know exactly, but it is very likely that at this point in time, he would be held in a police station, maybe even in a police cell. Police experts say there will be no special treatment for the former prince. He would be in a small cell just like anyone else with a toilet and a hard bed potentially waiting to be asked questions by the police, waiting to be interviewed by the police.

Now how long can the police hold him? Well, generally, in these cases, it's about 24 to 48 hours when we see that that interview takes place. And then you would imagine that in some ways, they would probably release him at that stage and the case would go quiet while the investigation continues. Now you might ask, well, why was it necessary for the police to arrest Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor? Why didn't they simply call him in for questioning, call him in for an interview?

Well, police experts say, Becky, that it is because it gives police the access to do what we're seeing right now on our screens, search his properties. As you said, he was evicted from his home in Windsor, pushed out of the royal residence, and now staying in Sandringham, a residence of King Charles. That estate is now being searched by police. We understand that there are properties that are being looked into by police, that local police are also assisting Thames Valley Police in their search. The next question will be, well, how big will these searches go? Will other members of the royal family be asked questions or be called upon in this investigation? Well, we've already heard from King Charles a few days ago who preempted this by issuing a statement saying he is ready to support police. But there's a lot of questions. What specifically prompted the police to take this extraordinary action? We understand that he is arrested on allegations of misconduct in public office that relates to his time as a trade envoy for the U.K. between 2001 and 2011. He was a trade envoy for this country, and in the latest trove of Epstein files, it appears that he forwarded sensitive information, confidential government information to Jeffrey Epstein while he was representing this country as a trade envoy.

Extraordinary if true, of course. Mountbatten-Windsor has repeatedly denied any allegations of wrongdoing, but that's the other extraordinary twist here, Becky, as well. All of the headlines have been mostly focused on allegations of sexual misconduct, it is his time as trade representative that is under question. Now in this email trove, there are emails that appear again to show Mountbatten-Windsor, at the time prince Andrew, forwarding emails that had details of upcoming trips abroad of investment opportunities in places like in Afghanistan, in gold, in uranium.

[06:35:00]

So this type of very sensitive details being sent to Jeffrey Epstein is right now the matter, the heart of the investigation. But what was the trigger? That's the answer we still don't have, Becky.

ANDERSON: Yeah. And as you've been speaking, and I'm going to bring up again the images that we've got into CNN this morning because these are videos from outside Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor's home. This is Wood Farm on the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk in England. This is a temporary residence as we understand it, while a permanent home, also located on that property is gotten ready for him. He was moved there in mid-February, so not very long ago at all, when he was effectively evicted from his home on the Windsor Estate. We do understand from the police statement that a property in Berkshire in the U.K. is also being investigated. That one assumes would be his home on that Windsor Estate, which is in Berkshire, just about sort of 40 or 50 miles away from London, of course.

Do we have any details about how this arrest actually unfolded? I mean, we began to get information on this a couple of hours ago, and you were very quickly reporting on this. Do we understand how it unfolded? Who knew what, before the actual arrest happened?

ABDELAZIZ: Look. Right now, the police are, of course, prioritizing the investigation. And so there's a lot that they're not going to be able to say because the matter is simply under investigation. But what we do know from the images that you're showing us, from people who are on the ground and eyewitnesses is that cars, police cars, some of them potentially unmarked police cars, showed up at that estate today this morning, which is also I have to point out, Prince Andrew's 66th birthday. So on the morning of his birthday, police cars showing up at the estate. We heard shortly afterwards that he was arrested by the police. We do not have any details on where he was taken next, but given the timeline, I would imagine that he is already at a police station. Now, I don't know that for certain. Now, what happens next is the interview, is the questioning. So that's going to take place simultaneously while they search these properties. To what extent are they going to search properties? We simply don't know. We have colleagues right now outside of Buckingham Palace where everything looks calm and everything looks normal, but there will also be questions right now, of course, with King Charles, with other members of the royal family as to what happens next, how they prepare themselves for what happens next.

We have heard statements, of course, that have been absolutely extraordinary in their scope. King Charles saying he's willing to support the police in an investigation on his own brother. The statement that we saw a few days ago from Kate and William, essentially saying, we are concerned. And you know how extraordinary it is for the royal family, for any member of the royal family to issue statements like this.

At a time like this, as you know, Becky, the entire country is going to be listening, reading, watching, engaged in what's happening. And what the royal family needs to do right now is going to be to restore public trust, to demonstrate that they are ahead of this as much as they can, willing to work with the police, willing to tackle any wrongdoing if there is any wrongdoing as the police find. But you're also going to have to remember that at the heart of the monarchy is a family. So we are talking about a brother. We are talking about an uncle. We are talking about a father. And so that family is going to be splattered all over the headlines too.

So, yes, there's going to be this sense that this might be a step forward for Jeffrey Epstein's victims. There might be a step forward potentially in Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor possibly testifying in Congress, but there's also going to be empathy for the family that's at the heart of this, some of whom may have been caught up in this absolutely, like his daughters, and find themselves splashed all over the media while we wait for this to unfold because this is only the beginning. This is only the start. We haven't yet even heard any details on the investigation. So just expect more information and expect the scope of this to get bigger.

ANDERSON: Salma's in the bureau in London. Salma, thank you. I want to bring in CNN Royal Historian Kate Williams, to further pursue some of what Salma and I have just been discussing cases. Kate, this is a former prince, stripped of his title only at the back end of last year by his brother, of course, the king. How significant is this arrest in the context of British history?

KATE WILLIAMS, CNN ROYAL HISTORIAN: I mean, this is so significant. The last senior royal we have is Charles I. He was arrested in the midst of the civil war. He'd fallen out with the other side, the parliamentarians.

[06:40:00] It was arrest in war, so you might say it's slightly different. But there are many royals who have committed all kinds of crimes through the years, and this one is actually Andrew being arrested. This is so serious, and I think that when the kings just recently that they were willing to help Thames Valley Police with any kind of investigation, I wonder perhaps whether there was some kind of heads up that this was going to happen because the royal family now have a huge problem on their hands, and it's separating themselves from Andrew.

They've really -- the strategy they've had all along has been saying, he's the bad egg. We've got nothing to do with him. But I think increasingly people are going to be saying, but, yes, but you knew about this, and very significantly, there was a 2022 agreement that Virginia would not speak out during the period of the Queen's Jubilee.

Now the queen passed away, and that was held out carried ongoing throughout Charles' coronation, so he must have known about that. So the question's going to be asked increasingly, what did Charles know? And I think people are going to start saying, what did William know? So it's going to be very difficult for the Royal family over the next months. I mean, let's see what happens with Andrew. Let's see if he's charged, but there does seem to be this paper trail.

ANDERSON: That strategy of separation and putting some distance between the family and the former Prince Andrew, of course, had begun to a degree. But how challenging to your previous point, will this be now for King Charles and for the rest of the royal family, including Prince William, who has taken an increasingly visible role while his father, of course, has had -- has been ill. He's got cancer at present. So how tough is this going to be for the rest of the royal family, and how do you expect they will handle this?

WILLIAMS: This is going to be the biggest challenge that the royal family has had on their hands since the death of Diana, and in fact, it's going to be bigger than the death of Diana. People forgave them very quickly for the death for being in Balmoral during the death of Diana. This is going to be a huge, huge problem because the royal family, they're not like the rest of us. They're not judged on sales figures or metrics. They're judged by perception and message, how people think of them.

And the fact is that their standing was already a little bit low, but this is going to crash it into the doldrums because all the royal family's attitude about putting your head in the sand, about ignoring what's going on, about really also, I think we have to say there was covering up for Andrew. There's been various news organizations who said that they weren't allowed to say anything. They were -- they -- that they couldn't interview Andrew. I mean, it's been said all along. So the fact is people are going to say, what did the king know?

Yes. It was mainly during the queen's reign, but what did the king know? And the fact is when we think of Charles I, the last senior royal arrested, everyone separated themselves from his son when he came back to the throne in 1660, didn't talk about his father and other even the innocents arrested like Anne Boleyn, her daughter Elizabeth I never talked about her. And Anne Boleyn was an innocent, and we could say that Charles I was on the opposing side. Andrew is in a lot of trouble.

ANDERSON: He's always denied, wrongdoing in relation to his former friendship with Jeffrey Epstein. This is a tough question. You are more than welcome to say, I have absolutely no idea. But what do you expect will happen next in this case?

WILLIAMS: I think, well, he is being held. He is being questioned. Now there are many -- there are other -- not many. There are other investigations from the police in terms of treatment of Virginia, in terms of this other woman who we don't know her name, who was, obviously, we should not. She's a victim of offenses, taken to Royal Lodge. We don't believe it's about them. This is about the passing out of information when he was trade envoy.

So there are emails that is very clear evidence. So I think there's very clear evidence to me. And so I think it's very likely that she's going to be that I think it's not unlikely that she's going to be charged by something like insider dealing, the -- is very much illegal in this country. You can't pass on trade secrets to someone who might be able to invest. I mean, anyone in a job would be arrested for that, would be in trouble for that, and this may be the case with Andrew as well.

Now, you know what I've always wondered? I have wondered why Andrew hadn't fled the country almost immediately. I wondered why he was staying in the country. I had wondered why he hadn't fled so he could be, he couldn't be extradited. There are many countries that would have Andrew be pleased to have him, it has to be said. And I wonder whether there has been some -- he -- they've been telling him -- that the police has been telling him that he has to stay in the country. The king has been staying him. He has telling him he has to stay in the country. So I'm not sure this is a total shock for him.

But, obviously, he's got all the barristers out there. And I also think in terms of the police investigation, in terms of revealing information, another question that's going to affect Andrew is what happens to Peter Mandelson.

[06:45:00]

So Peter Mandelson, the Political Adviser, the long term Labor Political Adviser and Minister who've been also accused of passing on information, what happens to him is going to -- if he gets arrested, if he gets questioned, if he gets charged, that people will say Andrew should be as well.

ANDERSON: The former Prince Andrew, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office. For the time being, thank you. I want to stay on this with the former Metropolitan Police Chief Superintendent, Dal Babu, in London. It's good to have you, sir. What do today's developments tell us about how this investigation may have progressed behind the scenes? Just, your response to what we've seen this morning and what it infers to you?

DAL BABU, FMR. METROPOLITAN POLICE CHIEF SUPERINTENDENT: Well, I think there would have been a huge amount of work before the arrest would have happened. The police don't have to arrest somebody taken for an interview. They can ask them to send information through. So the decision to make an arrest is very significant. They can hold somebody for 24 hours and then up to 96 hours with authorities from senior officers and the court system.

That's highly unlikely at this stage. But I think they would have had the opportunity now to search multiple properties now. Not only when you arrest somebody, you are allowed to search properties that they have control of and properties that they own. So there are other properties that Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor has control of. I'm -- all those properties are now simultaneously being searched. They'd been looking for electronic devices, any information that's held on those.

There may well be some items that they're aware of that he may have come into possession with, whether it's through his role as a trade envoy or whether he connected to Epstein, I think this is -- so it's a massive, massive moment. I think from here, I should imagine the -- it's a spectacular fall from grace. This is the queen's favorite son, Queen Elizabeth's second favorite son. He was a man who was -- I had the -- I met him. He's a very arrogant individual, and he would have -- he loved all the attention and status he has to go from that being stripped of all his titles and now to be sitting in a cell in a police station. He's quite a spectacular fall from grace.

ANDERSON: And I want to lean into your experience on exactly that. I mean, how would this arrest at Sandringham, do you believe have unfolded? And what will be the conditions that he is held in? We don't know where he is being held. We know this was an arrest by the Thames Valley Police, which is the force that runs the sort of London area in conjunction with the Norfolk Police Force, which is, of course, where Sandringham is based or located.

BABU: Yeah. So Thames Valley have responsibility for Windsor Castle. The Metropolitan Police have the responsibility for London, but there are 43 forces, as you'll probably be aware of in England and Wales. We know that nine of them are carrying out inquiries in relation to Epstein, and Andrew will have been featured in some of those investigations. We know what was known as the Lolita Express, the plane that was carrying vulnerable women had landed in Britain on numerous occasions.

We know that Epstein facilitated women for rich and powerful men, and Virginia Giuffre had made allegations against Andrew. Andrew always claimed that he was in a pizza restaurant and wasn't there. I think there'll be pressure on the police to ensure that all the logs and data of their protection officers are released to the investigation so they can establish exactly where he was. But at this stage, I think it is an element where the police will ask questions and try and gather as much information as they can from those addresses.

I think there's one area that people don't like talking about, and I don't -- I think it's probably -- there's not a great deal of sympathy, but the police have a duty of care to everybody they arrest. And given the spectacular fall of grace from where Andrew was to where he is now, they'd want to make sure that he is -- it's his birthday today. They want to make sure that he is receives all the support and help he needs in order to ensure his well-being is looked at. Then and let's face it, this would be -- to be arrested in these circumstances is devastating.

[06:50:00]

But to have had all that privilege in the previous 65 years of your life and then just to have this landed on you now would have a massive impact on him.

ANDERSON: When the files in question were released, Buckingham Palace said, and I quote, "If we are approached by Thames Valley Police, we stand ready to support them as you would expect." I wonder, were you surprised by that statement, and what would that support have looked like or will look like going forward?

BABU: I think that was a signal really that -- of what was to come, really. And I should imagine, the fact that, he has been -- Prince Andrew has been moved from Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle to some place in the countryside is an indication of how the royal family would have been fully aware of the images of what it would have looked like if the police had rolled into Buckingham Palace or Windsor Castle to arrest Andrew.

So I think the fact he was effectively banished to the countryside is an indication of what the -- what perhaps the royal family believed was happening. I think the royal family will also want to make sure that they are -- they -- the rest of them are not tainted. I think there will be -- we're seeing more and more information from Epstein files around his daughter's being asked to facilitate tours for Americans that were here. So I think the royal family will want to make sure that they can distance themselves from here.

If you look at huge scandals, we have the abdication, obviously, when we had a member of the royal family who had sympathies with the Nazis. And more recently, the Princess Diana death where there was huge concerns from the public about how the royal family's relationship with Princess Diane. But I think this is on a par. The fact that we've got eighth in line to the crown, former -- queen's favorite grandson being arrested. It just doesn't get any more spectacular in terms of fall from grace.

ANDERSON: Right. It's good to have you, sir. Thank you very much indeed for joining us. So I want to bring in U.K. Royal Historian Ed Owens at this point. And before we sort of contextualize this, what more do you know about Andrew's arrest at this hour?

ED OWENS, ROYAL HISTORIAN: Nothing beyond the immediate facts of this morning. He has -- he's been arrested. He's been charged with misconduct in public life. Interesting that that is the specific charge here given recent weeks of speculation regarding the relationship with Epstein. Of course, the publication of those -- of that information, through the Epstein files as well that Andrew was sharing confidential information with Epstein regarding some of the trade trips he undertook as trade on Envoy on behalf of the United Kingdom. So one suspects that the charges pertain to those issues there. But, no, very little else, beyond what has been known this morning.

ANDERSON: You have extensively covered the royal family. So what do you believe we can expect from them in response to this arrest?

OWENS: Well, I think, the king more than a week ago made clear that, he would cooperate with any official investigation into Andrew, and he would be willing to speak to the authorities, the rural household will be cooperating with any police investigation. That was significant, because really this has been a crisis, not specific -- not specifically related just to Epstein, but it's been a crisis for the monarchy in terms of a lack of transparency with relation to Andrew.

What they knew, when they knew it, questions again swirling around, the payoff to the Guinea as you fray, who was responsible for that. It's this lack of transparency up until now that has been the real problem for the monarchy. The public, the media have been pressing for a more fulsome response from the monarchy in relation to Andrew. And I anticipate that the royal household, the palace, the king, and other members of the royal family potentially now will cooperate with this police investigation.

ANDERSON: I mean, they clearly see what they are up against at this point.

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I mean -- and I think we have to be quite clear to those watching around the world that to get the statement from Buckingham Palace and indeed from William and Kate recently is sort of quite unprecedented in and of itself. I mean, Prince William was in the region where I am in Saudi Arabia just in the past week or so. I mean, if there was an effort in any way to sort of move the family on, be seen to be continuing as normal.

Well, I'm afraid the Epstein files have really overshadowed absolutely everything. Before I let you go, we just got a minute or so. Just contextualize this for us. We've been talking about this being unprecedented. Charles -- you need to go back to Charles I time to really find a situation like this for this U.K. royal family. Just 45 seconds, sir. Your thoughts.

OWENS: Well, clearly, the monarchy is in crisis management mode once again. I think the most recent episodes that are equivalent to this in terms of the scale of the challenge, the weeks, months, immediate years after the death of Diana 1997, but before that, the abdication crisis 1936, an event that shook the very foundations of the monarchy and raised questions about its continuation and whether it would manage to restabilize itself, after the departure of Edward VIII. So this is a really significant moment for the monarchy.

ANDERSON: And I have been given some extra time because you are so useful and important to us. Your insight and analysis, is really very valuable. So we do have another couple of minutes. And in that time, I do just want to press you on what you believe, will happen next. I mean, clearly now we have, as described by the Thames Valley Police, a man in his 60s in custody, or arrested at least, hasn't been charged as we understand it at this point. I mean, we are reporting because we can that this is Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.

And we know, that we've had statement in the past week or so from the royal family as we've been discussing. To your mind, what happens next? I mean, you have to assume both around, the former Prince Andrew and the royal family, there will be some serious crisis management going on.

OWENS: There's definitely crisis management going on. The police have made it very clear that they will fill the public in with as much information as quickly as possible pending the investigation, because they recognize that there is huge public and media interest in this particular episode. That is important because, again, they will want to act quickly and to provide that information to offer reassurance to the public that the work is being done. I think in terms of a possible prosecution, it remains to be seen what is found in the two residences that are being investigated by police and being searched by police this morning.

It will of course, depend on the conversation that they have with Andrew, who is currently under arrest, and what he tells them. So it -- we cannot be certain that he will be formally prosecuted. But nevertheless, as I say, this is a serious moment of crisis for the British monarchy. Earlier this week, we saw royals talking about other things. Prince William has been very much in the headlines talking about mental health awareness.

I think we're going to see other members of the royal family take a step backwards from talking about more positive new stories in the coming weeks and giving full space for this investigation to take place, acknowledging probably that they haven't spoken enough about Andrew, in the last months as well.

ANDERSON: Ed, good to have you. Thank you very much indeed.

So our breaking news this morning. Police have arrested Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor on suspicion of misconduct in public office. The Thames Valley Police releasing a statement, a couple of hours ago. He has previously denied all accusations against him. He has not commented on recent allegations of misconduct in public office, which is what very specifically this arrest is around. He can be held in England and Wales, so that is where he is obviously in England. He can be held for up to 24 hours before police have to formally charge him with a crime or release him.

The longest that Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor could be held is 96 hours, which is the amount of time a person can be held if suspected of a serious crime. Police can also release suspects, of course on bail if there is not enough evidence to charge them. We will continue to monitor developments in the arrest of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and bring those to you as they come in to us here at CNN. For now, back to my colleagues in United States from CNN.