British police arrest Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor on suspicion of misconduct
Prince Andrew, Duke of York attends the traditional Easter Sunday Mattins Service at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle on April 20, 2025 in Windsor, England. (Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images)
(LONDON) — Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor — formerly known as Prince Andrew and the younger brother of King Charles III — was arrested on Thursday on suspicion of misconduct in public office.
In a statement, Thames Valley Police said they had “arrested a man in his sixties from Norfolk on suspicion of misconduct in public office and are carrying out searches at addresses in Berkshire and Norfolk.”
“The man remains in police custody at this time. We will not be naming the arrested man, as per national guidance,” the statement said.
Photos from Wood Farm on the Sandringham estate in eastern England showed what appeared to be police officers arriving in several unmarked vehicles. Thursday marks Andrew’s 66th birthday.
In a statement issued on Thursday, Charles said, “I have learned with the deepest concern the news about Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and suspicion of misconduct in public office.”
“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. In this, as I have said before, they have our full and wholehearted support and co-operation,” Charles added.
“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. Meanwhile, my family and I will continue in our duty and service to you all.”
Andrew’s arrest on Thursday follows the emergence of documents detailing communication between Andrew and the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Several emails released by the U.S. Justice Department showed Epstein’s correspondence with a Andrew’s aide David Stern and suggest the royal may have planned to use his role as a special U.K. representative for trade and investment to further his own business interests.
The emails in question date back to 2010. Andrew served as a British trade envoy from 2001 until 2011, when Buckingham Palace announced that he would give up the role following criticism over his friendship with controversial figures, including Epstein.
Andrew has previously denied wrongdoing with respect to Epstein.
Thames Valley Police told ABC News last week that they were assessing reports of Andrew’s alleged misconduct in office as trade envoy.
“We can confirm receipt of this report and are assessing the information in line with our established procedures,” a Thames Valley Police spokesperson said in a statement on Feb. 9.
Self check-in kiosk are blocked off at Rafael Hernandez International Airport in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico. (Yadira Hernandez-Pico/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Despite the Federal Aviation Administration reopening the Eastern Caribbean airspace following the dramatic capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro by U.S. forces, some American tourists said they remain stranded across the region.
As airlines scrambled on Sunday to add flights and get people home from the Caribbean, tourists such as Nydia Han said they remain stuck.
Han, an anchor and reporter for ABC Philadelphia station WPVI, said she and her family were supposed to fly from San Juan, Puerto Rico, to Philadelphia on Sunday night. But now, she said she has been told by the airlines that she can’t get a flight home until Friday.
“Unfortunately, because of Maduro’s capture and airspace being closed, we are stuck here in Vieques,” Han said in a video she shared with ABC News.
The FAA issued a so-called notice to airmen (NOTAM) to airlines early Saturday that it was banning flights from entering the Eastern Caribbean airspace “due to safety-of-flight risk associated with ongoing military activity.”
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a social media post later on Saturday that the Caribbean airspace ban would expire at midnight Eastern time on Sunday.
Major U.S. air carriers — including Southwest, JetBlue, United, Delta and American — canceled hundreds of flights during the airspace ban and some are scrambling to add additional flights to the region to accommodate affected customers.
Delta says they’ve added 2,600 seats through extra flights on Monday and the airline says it’s working to reaccommodate all customers by Tuesday.
Delta said delays could occur in the Caribbean on Monday because of the increased airline capacity and recommended that customers with confirmed and rebooked tickets on Monday arrive three hours early to allow for crowded airports.
Customers without confirmed tickets should not go to the airport until they’ve been rebooked.
American Airlines has added a total of 7,000 more seats with 43 extra flights. On Monday, for the first time in over a decade, American will operate interisland flights in the Eastern Caribbean with two flights connecting Anguilla Wallblake, Anguilla (AXA) and Beef Island, BVI (EIS) to San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Flights throughout the Caribbean — including other popular destinations such as Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao, St. Martin and St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands — were also canceled during the airspace ban, but some airports are getting back to normal.
Flights were arriving and departing from the Queen Beatrix International Airport in Oranjestad, Aruba, according to FlightRadar24.
About 29 flights into and out of Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport in Puerto Rico were canceled on Sunday, a far cry from the 400 inbound and outbound flights canceled on Saturday.
Billy Gunther of Florida said he and his wife are newlyweds and were wrapping up their stay at an Airbnb in Puerto Rico on Saturday when they got a notification that their flight was canceled.
Gunther told ABC affiliate station WZVN in Naples, Florida, that it could be another three days before he and his wife get a flight back home. Gunther said he has spoken to other tourists coping with flight cancellations.
“So, you have a lot of people who are anxious, that they don’t know when they’re going to come home,” Gunther said.
Prince Andrew, Duke of York arrives for the Requiem Mass service for Katharine, Duchess of Kent at Westminster Cathedral on September 16, 2025, in London, England. (Photo by Jordan Pettitt – Pool/Getty Images)
(THAMES VALLEY, England) — Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly known as Prince Andrew, is facing new scrutiny over his communications with the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The police department in Thames Valley, England, confirmed Monday it is assessing new allegations that Mountbatten-Windsor, a brother of Britain’s King Charles III, shared with Epstein confidential reports from a 2010 tour of Southeast Asia he took as Britain’s then-envoy for international trade.
“We can confirm receipt of this report and are assessing the information in line with our established procedures,” a Thames Valley Police spokesperson told ABC News Monday.
A Buckingham Palace spokesperson said Monday the palace will support authorities as needed.
“The King has made clear, in words and through unprecedented actions, his profound concern at allegations which continue to come to light in respect of Mr Mountbatten-Windsor’s conduct,” the spokesperson said in a statement to ABC News. “While the specific claims in question are for Mr Mountbatten-Windsor to address, if we are approached by Thames Valley Police we stand ready to support them as you would expect.”
The spokesperson continued, “As was previously stated, Their Majesties’ thoughts and sympathies have been, and remain with, the victims of any and all forms of abuse.”
The new allegations against Andrew come shortly after the U.S. Department of Justice public released 3 million pages of documents related to Epstein, who died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial on charges of sex trafficking minor girls.
Mountbatten-Windsor’s name shows up in the documents in his communications with Epstein, including correspondence in 2010 after Epstein concluded a 13-month jail sentence and work release — the result of a 2008 plea bargain with federal prosecutors in Florida.
The documents also show the two men communicated beyond the time that Mountbatten-Windsor said publicly that he had cut ties with Epstein.
ABC News has reached out to a representative for Mountbatten-Windsor for comment about the documents.
The former prince has repeatedly denied wrongdoing with respect to Epstein.
Last year, Charles ordered that Mountbatten-Windsor, a son of the late Queen Elizabeth II, have his “style, titles and honours,” including his “prince” title, removed amid continued fallout from his relationship with Epstein.
ABC News confirmed that Mountbatten-Windsor has also moved out of his longtime royal residence, Royal Lodge, a 30-room mansion on the grounds of Windsor Estate, and will now live permanently on the king’s privately owned Sandringham Estate in Norfolk, England, over 100 miles away from his previous home.
As the fallout for Mountbatten-Windsor continues, his nephew and heir to the throne, Prince William, and William’s wife Kate, the Princess of Wales, spoke out publicly for the first time Monday about the latest release of Epstein-related documents.
Ahead of William’s arrival in Saudi Arabia for an official visit, a Kensington Palace spokesperson released a statement, saying, “I can confirm The Prince and Princess have been deeply concerned by the continuing revelations. Their thoughts remain focused on the victims.”
Buckingham Palace has so far not commented publicly on the latest Epstein documents.
Charles, as well as his wife Queen Camilla and younger brother Prince Edward, have each faced questions about the Epstein documents from onlookers at public engagements over the past week.
Kyiv residents shelter at the Dorohozhychi subway station amid a Russian drone-and-missile strike on February 3, 2026 in Kyiv, Ukraine. (Ihor Kuznietsov/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)
(LONDON) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged “maximum pressure” on Russia from the international community after Moscow fired hundreds of drones and missiles into Ukraine overnight into Tuesday morning, in a major attack that Zelenskyy said focused on the country’s critical energy infrastructure.
Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 71 missiles and 450 drones into the country overnight, of which 38 missiles and 412 drones were shot down or suppressed. Twenty-seven missiles and 31 drones impacted across 27 locations, the air force said.
The strike was the largest reported by the Ukrainian air force of the year so far, and the largest overall number of munitions launched in a single night since the night of Dec. 27.
The number of missiles fired on Monday night was also unusually high, and the largest total for a single night since April 24, according to air force data analyzed by ABC News.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said in a post to Telegram that its forces “carried out a massive strike” on “Ukraine’s military-industrial complex and energy facilities used in their interests, as well as places of storage and assembly of long-range unmanned aerial vehicles.”
Zelenskyy said in a post to Telegram that the regions of Sumy, Kharkiv, Kyiv, Dnipro, Odesa and Vinnytsia were attacked, with energy infrastructure and residential buildings among those hit. At least nine people have so far been confirmed injured, the president said.
“Taking advantage of the coldest days of winter to terrorize people is more important to Russia than resorting to diplomacy,” Zelenskyy said. “This clearly demonstrates what is needed from partners and what can help. Timely delivery of missiles for air defense systems and protection of normal life is our priority. Without pressure on Russia, there will be no end to this war.”
“Right now, Moscow is choosing terror and escalation, and that is why maximum pressure is needed,” Zelenskyy added.
Ukrainian Energy Minister Denys Shmyhal said that thermal power plants powering parts of Kyiv, Kharkiv and Dnipro were among the targets of the strike. “The targets were not military. They were exclusively civilian,” Shmyhal wrote on Telegram.
DTEK, Ukraine’s largest private energy firm, said Russian strikes inflicted “significant” damage on its power plants, in what it said was “the ninth massive attack on the company’s thermal power stations since October 2025.”
Emergency power outages were implemented in Kyiv’s Dnieper and Darnytsia districts, DTEK said. Energy infrastructure was also damaged in Odesa, DTEK added.
Ukraine’s state energy company Ukrenergo reported “a significant number of power outages in Kyiv, Kyiv, Kharkiv, Vinnytsia and Odesa regions,” which it attributed to the “massive” overnight attack. “There are also damaged energy facilities in several regions,” Ukrenergo wrote on Telegram.
Moscow’s latest strikes came after the expiry of a brief pause in attacks on energy infrastructure agreed to by both Moscow and Kyiv following a request from U.S. President Donald Trump. Russia said that the pause expired on Sunday.
This winter — the fourth of Russia’s full-scale invasion — has seen Moscow intensively target Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, wreaking havoc on the national grid and precipitating rolling and extended blackouts for millions of Ukrainians.
Monday night saw temperatures drop as low as -14 F in some parts of Ukraine.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha suggested on X that Russian President Vladimir Putin “waited for the temperatures to drop and stockpiled drones and missiles to continue his genocidal attacks against the Ukrainian people.”
Zelenskyy later made the same allegation in a post to Telegram. “The Russian army took advantage of the American proposal to pause the strikes for a short period, not to support diplomacy, but simply to stockpile missiles and wait for the coldest days of the year,” he said.
Russia launched its latest major strike despite an upcoming round of trilateral peace talks with U.S. and Ukrainian representatives in the United Arab Emirates, which are due to resume on Wednesday and continue into Thursday.
“Every such strike by Russia confirms that the attitude in Moscow has not changed: they are still counting on war and the destruction of Ukraine, and they do not take diplomacy seriously,” Zelenskyy said. “The work of our negotiating team will be adjusted accordingly.”
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte visited Kyiv on Tuesday to meet with Zelenskyy and address the Ukrainian parliament. Rutte told Ukrainian representatives that “important progress has been made” in trilateral U.S.-Ukraine-Russia talks.
“But Russia continues to attack, as it did last night,” Rutte added. “This demonstrates their lack of seriousness about peace.”
Monday night’s attack prompted the scrambling of NATO fighter jets in Poland, which borders Ukraine to the country’s west. Poland’s Armed Forces Operational Command Operational Command said that no violation of the nation’s airspace was recorded.
German fighter jets and Dutch anti-air defense systems were among the assets put on alert, the command said.
Russia’s Defense Ministry, meanwhile, said its forces downed at least 10 Ukrainian drones overnight.
The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces confirmed in a post to Telegram that it struck several targets on Russian-held territory overnight into Tuesday.
Ukraine’s targets included a drone training and production site in occupied Zaporizhzhia, a concentration of Russian forces in the western Russian border region of Belgorod and an electronic warfare site in occupied Donetsk, the General Staff said.
