Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was briefly detained in February as part of a probe into his dealings with the convicted sex offender<\/p>\n
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly known as Prince Andrew, has taken Thames Valley Police to court over raids on his residences as part of an investigation into his dealings with Jeffrey Epstein.
\nThe former British royal has challenged the legality of search warrants executed in February that saw him briefly placed in custody on suspicion of sharing confidential government information with the convicted American pedophile financier.
\nThe former Duke of York has for years faced separate allegations of sexual misconduct. In 2022, he settled a civil lawsuit with American activist Virginia Giuffre out of court. According to media reports, the former prince had to pay \u00a312 million ($16.3 million) in hush money to the woman, who accused him of raping her in 2001 when she was 17.
\nGiuffre took her own life in 2025. Her posthumously released memoirs prompted King Charles III to strip his brother of his remaining titles and to evict him from his royal residence last October.
\nEpstein was found dead in his prison cell while awaiting trial in 2019, in what was ruled a suicide.
\nOn Monday, the press office for Britain\u2019s judiciary announced that Mountbatten-Windsor\u2019s legal claim will be heard in private on Thursday at the High Court.
\n\u201cThe case concerns an application by Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor for a judicial review to quash search warrants issued by a judge at the Central Criminal Court on 18 February 2026,\u201d the judicial spokesperson said, as cited by the media.
\nThe proceedings will be closed to the public at the request of Thames Valley Police, which also confirmed that they are \u201cengaged in legal proceedings in relation to warrants previously obtained from the Central Criminal Court.\u201d<\/p>\n
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The former Duke of York previously admitted to associating with Epstein, but insisted that their friendship ended by late 2010 \u2013 which was subsequently proven false.
\nThe former prince\u2019s ties to the disgraced financier and convicted sex offender came under renewed scrutiny following the release of the final tranche of the Epstein files by the US Justice Department in February. Some of the emails released indicated that Mountbatten-Windsor used his position as UK trade envoy, which he held from 2001 to 2011, to brief Epstein on investment opportunities in Afghanistan, Singapore, Vietnam, Hong Kong, and China.
\nThames Valley Police subsequently raided Mountbatten-Windsor\u2019s home on the Sandringham Estate and his former residence at Royal Lodge in Windsor. He was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office, but was eventually released \u201cunder investigation\u201d after 12 hours of questioning, and has denied any wrongdoing. He is the most senior member of the royal family to be arrested in modern history.
\nOn Sunday, The Telegraph reported that the police investigation has stalled due to the refusal of the US Justice Department to hand over the unredacted versions of the Epstein files to the UK authorities.
\nIn May, Thames Valley Police said the probe would also look into allegations of sexual misconduct by Mountbatten-Windsor.
\nThe last tranche of the Epstein files included images appearing to show then-Prince Andrew kneeling over a woman lying on the ground, as well as a claim by an anonymous FBI witness that he attended \u201cpedophile ring parties\u201d in the mid-1990s in which minors as young as six were allegedly abused.
\nSome of the materials released by the Justice Department also appeared to corroborate allegations by Giuffre \u2013 one of the most prominent accusers of Epstein.
\nCommenting on the release of the last batch of the files in February, Russian presidential aide Kirill Dmitriev described the former prince and his \u201cliberal Western friends\u201d as \u201csatanic.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was briefly detained in February as part of a probe into his dealings with the convicted sex offender Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly known as Prince Andrew, has taken Thames…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39390,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t