Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor leaves Aylsham Police Station
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor has been arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public life.
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s arrest was not related to sexual abuse.
But for women who say they were victims of the former prince and Jeffrey Epstein, his arrest in the UK on February 19 for public misconduct is another vindication.
The case comes decades after the women first spoke out about the abuse, were fired by police, and denied and scorned by the former prince and Epstein. And this follows the release of more files that Epstein’s accusers have sought to hold more people accountable, including Bill Gates and Les Wexner.
“Today is just the beginning of the accountability and justice brought to us by Virginia Roberts Giuffre. A young mother who loved her daughter so deeply that she fought the most powerful men on earth to protect her. She did this for everyone’s daughters. Now, let’s demand that the dominoes of power and corruption begin to fall,” Maria Farmer said in a statement.
In 1996, Farmer reported Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell to law enforcement in New York City, accusing them of abusing her and her sister. Farmer later reported being abused by Epstein and others in New Mexico and Ohio. Maxwell was later sentenced to prison for sex trafficking. Epstein died by suicide in 2019 and was awaiting trial on similar charges.
Roberts Giuffre said she was trafficked for sex with Prince Andrew as a teenager and later became one of the most outspoken victims of Epstein and Andrew. Her memoir, Nobody’s Girl, was published in October 2025, six months after she died by suicide.
Roberts-Giuffre’s family said in a statement: “Today our broken hearts are lifted by the news that no one is above the law, even members of the royal family.”
“On behalf of our sister Virginia Roberts Giuffre, we would like to thank the UK Thames Valley Police for their investigation and arrest of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor,” her brothers Skye Roberts and Danny Wilson said on February 19.
“He was never a prince,” they said. “For survivors around the world, Virginia did this for you.”
In 2022, Roberts Giuffre settled a civil sexual abuse lawsuit against the then-prince. The conditions were top secret. The British royal family has denied any wrongdoing by the former second-in-line to the throne.
It’s been six years since Epstein died by suicide. And hundreds of women calling themselves “Survivor Sisters” are calling for the identification of Epstein’s associates who abused, raped and participated in human trafficking.
Their advocacy led to near-unanimous votes in the House and Senate to release the Justice Department’s investigative files on Epstein.
Mr Mountbatten-Windsor was arrested on February 19 on suspicion of misconduct in office related to his relationship with a convicted sex offender. He was released the same day.
Gloria Allred, a lawyer who represents several Epstein accusers, said the state needs to act not just on allegations of financial crimes, but also on allegations of rape, child molestation and sex trafficking.
When Roberts Giuffre first met Mountbatten-Windsor in March 2001, he was a prince. she was 17 years old.
Epstein and his colleague Maxwell introduced them.
“My daughters are a little younger than you,” he said of his daughters Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie. “We’ll probably have to trade her soon.”
Maxwell tells her that her job is to look after the former prince.
Roberts Giuffre said she did not want to have sex with the then-prince. “But I felt I had to,” she wrote. “There was no way to break free from Epstein and Maxwell’s control.”
Laura Trujillo is a national columnist focused on health and wellness. She is the author of “Stepping Back from the Ledge: A Daughter’s Search for Truth and Renewal” and can be reached at ltrujillo@usatoday.com.
