For most of his life, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, brother of King Charles III and the second and, by many insider accounts, the favorite son of Queen Elizabeth II, sat in a position of immense privilege.
Then came the allegations about his links to the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein — first in the form of claims that the former prince had forced Virginia Giuffre to have sex with him while she was underage, and then, after new documents were released last month, allegations were made that he may have shared confidential documents with Mr. Epstein.
Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor has always strongly denied those accusations. But the years of public scrutiny of the allegations led to a staggering fall from grace. He was stripped of his royal titles, ousted from his royal residence and then arrested on Thursday as part of an investigation into misconduct in public office.
Royal experts and British historians now say this latest crisis could pose a serious threat to the monarchy’s stability at a moment of immense uncertainty.
The arrest of the brother of the monarch is without precedence in modern Britain. (The last royal to be arrested was King Charles I, who was tried and executed for treason during the English Civil War in 1649.) Regardless of whether Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor is charged with a crime, public scrutiny will once again be turned to the House of Windsor.
“The problem the monarchy have here, it’s the various unknowables within this situation that will continue to stimulate media and public interest,” said Ed Owens, a royal historian and expert on Britain’s royal family. “Those unknowables are the sort of unexploded mines that could potentially pose huge problems to the institution.”
Unlike previous crises, there is no playbook, Mr. Owens said. After the death of Princess Diana, the king’s former wife, there was a funeral to plan and formalities to arrange. Even after the abdication of King Edward VIII in 1936, his brother was waiting in the wings to step into the role.
But there is simply no blueprint for how to react to the arrest of a close relative of the king who until recently had played a senior role for the royals, and who could potentially be charged and put on trial. And if more information were to emerge that the family had protected Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor, it could prove devastating, experts say.
Even as unmarked police vehicles arrived at Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor’s home in Sandringham Estate to arrest him — a scene broadcast to the nation by the BBC — life for the other royals continued as usual. Queen Camilla attended a lunchtime orchestral concert in London. King Charles attended a fashion show.
In a statement released earlier on Thursday, King Charles said he had “learned with the deepest concern” of his brother’s arrest.
“What now follows is the full, fair and proper process by which this issue is investigated in the appropriate manner and by the appropriate authorities,” he said. “In this, as I have said before, they have our full and wholehearted support and co-operation.”
He ended his statement with a clear message aimed at putting the emphasis squarely back on his family’s public service: “Meanwhile, my family and I will continue in our duty and service to you all,” he wrote, before signing off, “Charles R.”
Personal statements from the king like this are rare. Messaging on Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor has previously come from Buckingham Palace more generally. The palace had said that if King Charles or the palace were approached by the police for assistance, it stood ready to support them.
The House of Windsor has taken great pains to distance itself from the allegations that have surrounded Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor for years, and the public will now be looking not just to the king, but also to his heir, Prince William, for reassurances.
Prince William and his wife, Catherine, did not immediately put out a statement about the arrest, but a spokesperson for the royal couple said that they supported the king’s statement.
Isabella Kwai contributed reporting.
Megan Specia reports on Britain, Ireland and the Ukraine war for The Times. She is based in London.
The post For the Royals, No Playbook Exists for the Arrest of a Former Prince appeared first on New York Times.
