A case study in crisis mismanagement.

Max Mumby/Indigo

In case you’ve been dimension-hopping for the last 24 hours, a quick update for you: Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly known as Prince Andrew, was arrested yesterday on suspicion of misconduct in public office.

It marks the latest ignominious step for the King’s brother in a catalogue of misjudgements, dating back to his time as Special Representative for International Trade and Investment between 2001 and 2011.

We’re not here to litigate the case, which is now in the hands of the courts and therefore subject to reporting restrictions (unless you’re the King who, as the monarch, is not subject to them and was therefore able to ‘out’ his own brother as the man arrested in Norfolk yesterday).

Rather, we’re here to look back at a series of misjudgements that, one might argue, made worse an already bad situation (that as the courts will hear, may or may not have been a consequence of Mountbatten-Windsor’s own actions – he has consistently denied any wrongdoing).

1. Bad company

The first was his association with Jeffrey Epstein, a man arrested in 2006 and convicted in 2008 of sex offences. That’s not someone a person in high office should be emailing, let alone meeting with (Mountbatten-Windsor was photographed in New York with Epstein after his release from prison).

2. The Emily Maitlis interview

When the accusations against the then-Prince were made public, rather than take the usual royal route of total media silence, Mountbatten-Windsor opted to go public with an interview on BBC’s Newsnight. It has since become the textbook example of how not to do it: a ‘car-crash’ interview.

Mountbatten-Windsor denied remembering ever having met his accuser, Virginia Roberts (then Giuffre), and claimed that apparently incriminating photos of himself with her may have been faked. His alibi for the night she claimed they had sex was that he was in Pizza Express in Woking at the time.

The interview went so spectacularly badly for Mountbatten-Windsor that there have already been two fictionalised adaptations of the event: Netflix’s Scoop (starring Gillian Anderson and Rufus Sewell as Maitlis and Mountbatten-Windsor) and Prime Video’s A Very Royal Scandal, with Ruth Wilson and Michael Sheen.

3. The settlement

Giuffre – who died by suicide in April 2025 – sued Mountbatten-Windsor in civil court in New York in 2021 for sexual assault; the case never came to court, and Mountbatten-Windsor reportedly paid £12m to Ms Giuffre’s charity of choice in order to settle the case. There was no admission of wrongdoing in the settlement.

4. The King’s Statement

Chris Jackson

While the royal family was probably right not to ignore the reports of Mountbatten Windsor’s arrest, the King immediately announced that the man arrested was indeed his brother, and distanced himself from the case by insisting that “the law must take its course”.

While Mountbatten-Windsor has been stripped of his titles and Windsor property, it took until 2025 for this step to be taken, allowing a groundswell of public disapproval to reach greater heights than if action been taken sooner. He is also continuing to reside at a royal residence, the Sandringham estate.

As stated above: Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor has consistently denied any wrongdoing.