[0:02]Dramatic news about Andrew Mountbatten Windsor. The BBC understands that he has been arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office. Police in unmarked
[0:13]cars arrive at Sandringham to take the King's brother into custody. There are allegations that he shared official documents with a convicted sex
[0:24]offender, Jeffrey Epstein. What's your reaction to your brother's arrest, sir? The King expresses his deepest concern. He says the law must take its course.
[0:34]The monarchy will will will get through this, but it's definitely an uncomfortable, embarrassing, uh, and and difficult period. Fox News alert, we begin this hour with a breaking news story. >> Therefore, we are Prince Andrew is
[0:46]>> Within hours, the news is carried [music] around the world. >> so bad for the royal family. It's a very, very sad. To me, it's a very sad thing. It's an unprecedented moment for
[0:57]the modern royal family. What they're trying to do is to say, "Look, he's not one of us anymore. He's simply Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor." He's the first senior royal in modern
[1:17]history to be arrested. The King's brother, the late Queen's son, eighth in line to the throne. Questioned by police on suspicion of misconduct in public
[1:27]office after being taken into custody in Norfolk on his 66th birthday. It's this photo showing a shell-shocked, disbelieving Andrew snapped as he left
[1:38]police custody after hours of questioning that will in years to come define his arrest. Andrew has previously denied wrongdoing in relation to Jeffrey Epstein.
[1:49]Andrew was detained early on Thursday morning at the Sandringham estate. Searches took place there and here at Royal Lodge in the grounds of Windsor Great Park.
[2:00]With the former prince in custody, where he will have likely had his fingerprints taken and his legal rights read, the king issued this extraordinary statement. Some breaking news in the last few
[2:11]minutes, we've had a statement from the king. I'm going to read it to you in full. I have learned with the deepest concern the news about Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and suspicion of
[2:22]misconduct in public office. What now follows is the full, fair, and proper process by which this issue is investigated in the appropriate manner
[2:34]and by the appropriate authorities. In this, as I have said before, they have our full and wholehearted support and cooperation.
[2:45]Let me state clearly, the law must take its course. As this process continues, it would not be right for me to comment further on this matter.
[2:56]Meanwhile, my family and I will continue in our duty and service to you all. And that statement has been signed off, Charles R. Andrew's arrest and the
[3:08]king's statement made headlines around the world. Fox News alert, we begin this hour with
[3:32]a breaking news story out of the UK. >> Ex-Prince Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the brother of the king, King Charles, has been arrested on suspicion of
[3:41]misconduct in public office. Andrew was released under investigation and searches have continued at Royal Lodge. So, how did we get here? Here's Daniel
[3:52]Sandford. Although today's arrest had nothing to do with Virginia Giuffre, this picture of her with Andrew and Ghislaine Maxwell was where it all began. She said that
[4:02]she'd been forced by Jeffrey Epstein to have sex with Andrew and that this picture was proof. He knows what happened. I know what happened. And there's only one of us telling the
[4:13]truth, and I know that's me. Epstein had been jailed in 2008 for prostituting girls under the age of 18, though Virginia Giuffre was not part of
[4:24]that case. Two years later, in 2010, Andrew was photographed meeting Epstein in New York and even filmed staying in the disgraced financier's home. In his infamous
[4:35]Newsnight interview, he said he'd gone there to break off contact with Epstein. By mutual agreement during that walk in the park, we decided that we would part company
[4:45]and I left, I think it was the next day. And to this day, I never had any contact with him from that day forward. The problem was the fact that once he had
[4:55]been convicted, you stayed with him. >> I stayed with him. And that's that's that's the bit that that that that um as it were, I kick myself for on a daily
[5:06]basis cuz it was not something that was becoming of a member of the royal family. The year after that 2010 meeting, Andrew stopped working as a trade envoy but
[5:16]continued his royal duties until 2019. And even though Epstein died in prison that year, Virginia Giuffre and his other victims continued to campaign for
[5:27]the truth to come out, starting what became a clamor for the release of the Department of Justice's Epstein files. The releases began last year, and when the biggest release of all came in
[5:39]January, the BBC found this apparent email exchange timed days before the pictures of Andrew's meeting with Epstein in New York. Andrew seems to receive some UK government reports from
[5:50]his visit to Asia, and within 5 minutes his account, The Duke, appears to forward the reports to Jeffrey Epstein, the man he said he was breaking off relations with.
[6:01]The day after the BBC report, Thames Valley police said it was looking at whether to start an investigation into Andrew into misconduct in public office. He was forced to leave Royal Lodge and
[6:12]move to Norfolk. You cannot believe them. Andrew surrounded by police, by civil servants, by government ministers, by you know, that by other royals for 30
[6:22]years, 40 years he's known Epstein, but no one knew anything about anything that he was up to. And so on his 66th birthday, the late Queen's much-loved
[6:31]son suffered his latest humiliation, being arrested on the Sandringham estate and taken into police custody while his homes were searched.
[6:41]Thursday was obviously a difficult day for the King and other members of the royal family, but they continued with their royal engagements. King Charles attended London Fashion Week.
[6:52]Good afternoon. What's your reaction to your brother's arrest, sir? So, what's your reaction to your brother's arrest? Any reaction to your brother's arrest,
[7:02]sir? So, how dangerous a moment is this for the royal family? For years, as accusations swirled around
[7:12]Prince Andrew, he remained at the heart of the royal family. This was in 2019 at Trooping the Colour. Months later, after his disastrous Newsnight interview, the then Duke of
[7:23]York would cease life as a working royal. He did though attend some private family occasions. So, how did the royal family respond to
[7:34]the Andrew Epstein problem? In 2022, the former prince was stripped of his public royal role, But, that was after Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted.
[7:46]In recent years, it's overshadowed key royal events and saw the King act. Last year, the King and Queen's historic visit to the Vatican was nearly
[7:57]overshadowed by continuing allegations. There was drastic action by the King. He stripped his younger brother of his royal titles. Then last week, ahead of Prince
[8:07]William's trip to Saudi Arabia, he and the Princess of Wales, in their first public statement, said they were deeply concerned by the continuing revelations.
[8:18]Charles, how long have you known about Andrew and the uh As the King continued a planned visit to Clitheroe, Buckingham Palace too put out an extraordinary
[8:28]statement saying the King had profound concern at claims to do with Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. The Palace pledged to support the police.
[8:39]The last time Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was seen in public was the day before he moved out of Royal Lodge, just beyond those gates within Windsor Great Park, and onto the King's Sandringham estate,
[8:50]privately owned in Norfolk. It's not clear how his life has been financed. >> The King has done pretty much all he can for now in terms of stripping his brother of all his titles, all his honors, and his house. Um there are
[9:02]further things that can be done, not least uh stripping him of his role as counselor of state, kicking him out of the line of succession, that sort of thing. However, for that to happen, you've got to wait till the uh legal
[9:12]process is over. If you did anything like that now, it would look like a uh a presumption of guilt. There is the question of the wider royal family. What happens to Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor's former wife, Sarah
[9:24]Ferguson? She lived with him at Royal Lodge for years. Emails in the Epstein files show her arranging to bring their daughters, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie,
[9:35]to meet the convicted sex offender. Unlike their parents, the King has kept his nieces in the royal fold with the princesses at the royal family Christmas celebrations this year.
[9:47]Their father and the royal family are in uncharted waters. Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was a UK trade envoy for 10 years before stepping
[9:57]down in 2011 after criticism over his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein. He traveled globally and enjoyed privileged access to senior government and business
[10:08]contacts around the world. Our diplomatic correspondent, James Landale, has this analysis of what that role involved. At the turn of the century, Commander
[10:20]HRH the Duke of York, as he then was, had got as far as he could in the Royal Navy. And the former helicopter pilot needed a new job.
[10:29]So, in 2001, he became the UK's special representative for international trade and investment. >> [applause] >> His task to travel the world, shaking hands, banging the drum for British
[10:40]business. And it's on this period that the allegations of misconduct are thought to focus. The suggestion that official emails were leaked. The role took the former Duke all over
[10:52]the world. So, for example, in 2010, he made eight overseas trips that took him to 11 countries. And diplomats say at times he could be effective, opening
[11:03]doors with other royal families here in the Gulf, supporting UK investment in Central Asian countries neglected by ministers.
[11:13]But diplomats say the former prince could be boorish and arrogant. Some also worried about whether his public duties blurred with his private interests. Some trips coinciding with games of golf or
[11:25]meetings with business partners. Such was the controversy about his globe-trotting on the public purse, the press dubbed him Air Miles Andy. His trips paid largely out of royal funds
[11:37]with some expenses paid by government. Eyebrows were raised, too, about the former Duke's associations. Saif Gaddafi, son of the then Libyan leader,
[11:47]was reportedly close. Questions were also asked when his then home, Sunninghill Park in Berkshire, was sold to the son-in-law of the Kazakh
[11:56]president for 3 million pounds more than the asking price. What's not clear is the status of Andrew's unpaid role. Officials say he
[12:07]was appointed by the Queen, not the Prime Minister, and the framework of rules that applies to trade envoys today may not have applied to him. Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor has strongly
[12:18]denied any wrongdoing in his association with Epstein and rejected suggestions he used his time as a trade envoy to further his own interests. It's striking that the release of the
[12:30]Epstein files has had far-reaching consequences here in the UK more than in the US than our North America editor, Sarah Smith, explains. The reaction has
[12:41]really, really intensified the calls for arrests to be made here as well and for some of Epstein's co-conspirators to be brought brought to justice. And what politicians on both sides of the
[12:52]political divide are saying is if the British justice system can do this and a former prince can be arrested, then why on earth have similar actions not been taken here? Because after all,
[13:04]Jeffrey Epstein largely operated in America. Many of his victims were American. This is where most of his properties and networks and social connections were. And yet, as you say,
[13:14]nobody in America, apart from Epstein himself and his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, have been held criminally responsible for anything. President Trump faced questions from reporters on
[13:25]Air Force One. Do you think people in this country at some point, associates of Jeffrey Epstein, will wind up in handcuffs, too? Well, you know, I'm the expert in a way because I've been
[13:36]totally exonerated. That's very nice. I can actually speak about it very nicely. I think it's a shame. I think it's very sad. I think it's so bad for the royal family. It's a very, very sad. To me,
[13:47]it's a very sad thing. When I see that, it's a very sad thing. See it and to see what's going on with his brother, who's obviously coming to our country very soon and he's
[13:57]a fantastic man, the king. So, I think it's a very sad thing. The brother and sister-in-law of Virginia Giuffre, Sky and Amanda Roberts, spoke to BBC Newsnight.
[14:08]Virginia accuses Prince Andrew of sexual abuse. Sky praised the actions of King Charles following the arrest of his brother. I will continue to commend the king for
[14:20]the actions that he's taken. We have yet to see that from our own government here. Um, you know, we were just at the Pam Bondi hearing. Um, and so, I think to hear the king come out and
[14:31]acknowledge the fact that there needs to be an investigation, the law should be followed like it should be followed for anybody that should be held to this um type of investigation. And if it is
[14:41]found that he indeed did share um secret information from his own government, I mean, that's a crime that's punishable like by life. I we we would ask that he holds him to the highest extent of the
[14:52]law even though it is his brother. So, I commend the king. I say thank you to the king and to the royal family for standing behind survivors, but also just standing behind their people to say,
[15:02]"Doesn't matter if you It doesn't matter your wealth or your power. You don't have a different set of laws for you that don't apply to other people." And I think we're seeing that in the UK right now.
[15:13]Just how much could Andrew's arrest hurt the royal family? The broadcaster, Jonathan Dimbleby, is a long-term friend of King Charles. I don't think that it
[15:23]damages the monarchy. I think we have to separate the notion of a family from the institution of the monarchy. I think it's very important. It's very easy to align the two. And I'd say in
[15:33]parenthesis, I think that the the former Duke of Edinburgh was used the most unfortunate phrase when he talked about the family business. It's not a family business, um, first of all. Secondly, if
[15:44]you take the individuals, the senior he meant he mentioned the King mentioned, didn't he, that that all the family will continue to help. If you think of the, um, the Prince and Princess of Wales, the Princess Royal, the Duke of
[15:54]Edinburgh, they're all doing their duties. They will individually have feelings about this. I do not see that because one member of the royal family
[16:05]has been arrested, maybe, we don't know, maybe charged with a very serious offense, that that brings the institution in disrespect. On the contrary, it demonstrates that the
[16:16]institution is functioning. But our royal correspondent Johnny Diamond says it's a body blow for the monarchy. At the very best, this is a chance for the
[16:26]palace to draw a line and say, "Look, that's Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor on one side. This is the royal family on the other." At worst, this is a body blow for the House of Windsor. The titles may
[16:36]have been stripped from him. He is still the King's brother. He is still the late Queen's son. He is still eighth in line to the throne. And he still, as a senior member of the royal family, worked for
[16:47]the country, and that work is now being investigated. And he has been arrested. Things could hardly be graver for the palace. Look to the words that the King used at the end of his statement, duty
[16:59]and service, the foundation stone of the royal family. That is the challenge now facing the palace and the royal family. Andrew has previously denied wrongdoing
[17:09]in relation to Epstein. He has not responded to the BBC's request for comment on any of the specific allegations in relation to the release
[17:17]of millions of Epstein files in January. For now, Andrew is back on the Sandringham estate. He celebrated his birthday 12 months ago as prince and
[17:28]used titles including the Duke of York. Who knows what will have changed by his next birthday.