The arrest of a man in his 60s in Norfolk by Thames Valley Police this past Thursday has sparked significant media attention, with British outlets identifying the individual as the former Prince Andrew.

The connection between Andrew and the late Jeffrey Epstein, a financier whose reputation was marred by his status as a convicted sex offender, has long been scrutinized. Recently, a trove of 3 million documents released by the US Justice Department has reignited concerns regarding Andrew’s tenure as the UK’s trade envoy. Some of these documents include emails that suggest possible misconduct involving the sharing of sensitive information with Epstein.

Thames Valley Police have launched an investigation into claims that Andrew may have passed information to Epstein, who was a known paedophile. Despite the seriousness of these allegations, Andrew has consistently denied any wrongdoing.

To understand the origins of this controversy, we need to look back over 26 years. It all began when Andrew was introduced to Jeffrey Epstein in 1999 through Ghislaine Maxwell, a former university friend.

So, how did we get here? Here’s a timeline of events dating back more than 26 years:

Andrew first met Jeffrey Epstein through his old university friend Ghislaine Maxwell in 1999.

It led to a friendship that included visits to Epstein’s homes in New York, Florida and the Virgin Islands.

Epstein and Maxwell also stayed at Balmoral Castle during that time.

The first allegations against Epstein emerged in 2005, with claims that he paid underage women to have sex with him from 2002-2005 and he was accused of molesting a 14-year-old girl in his Palm Beach, Florida home.

It’s understood Epstein kept this all under wraps and Mountbatten-Windsor, unaware of the allegations, invited Epstein to his daughter Princess Beatrice’s 18th birthday at Windsor Castle in 2006.

Epstein reached a secret plea deal on a lesser charge of soliciting a minor for prostitution in 2008 and served 13 months of an 18-month sentence.

Mountbatten-Windsor travelled to New York to meet with Epstein after his release from prison – when the famous Central Park photo of the duo was taken.

In an interview with Emily Maitlis in 2019, Andrew said that visit was made to end their friendship.

However, subsequent email correspondence between the pair has been found in the latest trove of documents known as the Epstein Files, including a 2010 invitation to dine with the then-Duke of York at Buckingham Palace.

Also as a result of the emails, we now know Mountbatten-Windsor’s ex-wife Sarah Ferguson and their two daughters Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, visited Epstein at his home days after his release from prison in July 2010.

Virginia Giuffre (nee Roberts) shared a photo of herself with then-Prince Andrew at Ghislaine Maxwell’s London home with the press in February, in an effort to share her story.

She said that she was 17 years old when the photo was taken on a disposable camera in March 2001.

Mountbatten-Windsor always denied the photo was real and claimed it was not him in the image. Some emails from the Epstein files appeared to suggest it was real.

In July of 2011, Mountbatten-Windsor resigned from his role as trade envoy – or the UK’s Special Representative for International Trade and Investment as it was formally known – a position he’d held since 2001.

His resignation came after scrutiny over his questionable relationships with the likes of Epstein as well as son-in-law of Tunisia’s ousted president and the son of Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi.

Mountbatten-Windsor was first named in an Epstein case when Giuffre filed lawsuits alleging she was trafficked by Epstein and Maxwell to have sex with people, including the royal.

She claimed she had been forced to have sex with then-Prince Andrew on three occasions while she was underage.

Buckingham Palace and Andrew both denied the claims and labelled them “categorically untrue”.

This was when the scandal really erupted after years of simmering.

In new legal documents another of Epstein’s alleged victims, Johanna Sjoberg, accused Mountbatten-Windsor of sexual harassment in Epstein’s home in 2001. Buckingham Palace denied the claims again.

Epstein faced federal charges of sex trafficking and conspiracy and was denied bail. He was found dead in his New York jail cell in early August while awaiting trial, in what was later ruled a suicide.

In attempting to distance himself from Epstein’s downfall, Mountbatten-Windsor said he was “appalled by the recent reports of Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged crimes”.

“At no stage during the limited time I spent with him (Epstein) did I see, witness or suspect any behaviour of the sort that subsequently led to his arrest and conviction,” Mountbatten-Windsor later added in a statement of his own.

Following much speculation about Mountbatten-Windsor’s relationship with Epstein and the allegations against the royal, he decided to do a tell-all interview with BBC’s Newsnight.

The interview with Newsnight host Emily Maitlis was conducted inside Buckingham Palace and saw then-Prince Andrew once again deny accusations made by Giuffre.

In the interview, he also claimed he ended his relationship with Epstein in 2010, which was disproven in further email communication between the pair in 2011.

The interview was disastrous for Andrew and the royal family, including accusations of showing no remorse for Epstein’s victims and defending his relationship with the convicted sex offender.

The public outrage resulted in the Duke of York stepping down from all his royal duties four days later for the “foreseeable future”.

He then stepped away from his 230 patronages, along with several other official and honorary roles at organisations and charities.

After Giuffre spoke to BBC’s Panorama in December 2019, Buckingham Palace again denied allegations made against Prince Andrew.

Despite the Duke of York saying he would co-operate with authorities, the FBI said in January 2020 he had “provided zero cooperation”.

“To date, Prince Andrew has provided zero cooperation,” attorney Geoffrey Berman, the top federal prosecutor in Manhattan, said.

Prince Andrew Charitable Trust came under investigation from the UK’s Charity Commission regarding some regulatory issues over payments to Mountbatten-Windsor’s former private secretary Amanda Thirsk.

As the scandal continue to unfold for Mountbatten-Windsor, who was once in the navy, senior military personnel believed he was an embarrassment to the forces and should be stripped of his military roles.

The continued uproar over his Epstein ties prompted the Duke of York to step down from all public roles in May 2020.

Giuffre launched a civil suit against then-Prince Andrew in a New York court in August 2021, accusing him of “sexual assault and intentional infliction of emotional distress”.

In January, Queen Elizabeth stripped her second son of all his military titles and remaining royal patronages.

It was also decided he would not use his His Royal Highness (HRH) in any official capacity but he was not stripped of the title at the time.

This was followed by an out-of-court settlement between Mountbatten-Windsor and Giuffre in February, which is understood to have been worth £12 million ($22 million).

Just when Mountbatten-Windsor thought there might be a chance of a royal comeback, attending more official events under his brother’s reign, the Epstein files started being released.

In October, an email communication from 2011 between Epstein and Mountbatten-Windsor came to light, contradicting his statements on Newsnight.

“We are in this together and will have to rise above it,” the prince told the convicted sex offender, a year after he said he’d ended their friendship.

Later that month, on October 30, King Charles announced his brother would cease using his Duke of York title, was struck off the peerage roll and his HRH and prince titles were taken away.

Mountbatten-Windsor and his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson were banned from attending the royal family’s gathering at Sandringham Estate.

Mountbatten-Windsor was also booted out of Royal Lodge in Windsor, to live at a cottage on the King’s private estate in Sandringham, which he moved to on February 3, 2026 – where he was arrested weeks later, on February 19.

His arrest has nothing to do with Giuffre’s allegations and are currently solely based on allegations he passed on sensitive documents to Epstein during his official role in public service, as trade envoy.

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