Some individuals anticipate getting letters in the mail brimming with cash and checks on their birthday. For others, a visit from certain cops at the door is a welcomed present. For Prince Andrew, his 66th birthday began with a trip to the booking station in handcuffs.
The disgraced second son of Queen Elizabeth II was escorted out of his temporary Norfolk residence on Thursday morning by authorities probing the former prince for potential misconduct during his public service.
Authorities are examining an allegation that Prince Andrew—now referred to as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor—exchanged confidential information with Jeffrey Epstein while serving as the U.K.’s trade envoy.
Andrew has denied any wrongdoing linked to Epstein.
Thames Valley police issued a statement on Thursday morning stating they ‘arrested a man in his sixties from Norfolk on suspicion of misconduct in public office and are conducting searches at locations in Berkshire and Norfolk,’ noting ‘the man is currently in police custody’ but will not disclose the identity of the arrested individual.
Andrew has been staying at King Charles’ Sandringham estate in Norfolk since being ordered to vacate his 30-room Windsor Royal Lodge mansion by the King earlier this month. The former prince’s estrangement from the royal family is the least of his concerns, as his funds are dwindling due to legal issues.
Money troubles
Andrew’s financial status has long been veiled in secrecy among the Royal family, the Windsors, and their tax accountants. The former prince has been able to keep his financial matters private for years through the ingenious use of confidentiality clauses in his transactions with primarily wealthy foreign people.
However, after he reached a settlement in a case arising from his alleged abuse of Virginia Giuffre and his subsequent loss of status, Andrew’s money problems have become public.
His net worth is estimated to be between £3 million and £3.7 million ($5 million), a striking contrast to his brother Charles, whose wealth is estimated at around £640 million. (The king inherited over $500 million in personal assets following .) Despite his 40-year career as a working royal, during which he was reported to have received approximately £13 million in public and royal household funding, according to . His only declared income source is a paltry £20,000 per year, stemming from his service in the navy from 1979 to 2001. At 66, he is now entitled to a state pension of £230.25 per week, The Guardian reports, although he faces public pressure to donate the pension to a U.K. charity.
The Prince and the Pauper
The former prince has turned to selling properties and borrowing funds from his family—including £7 million from the late Queen—to pay for the , which is estimated to cost him around £12 million ($16.3 million). He is said to have not repaid any part of that loan. In early 2007, he sold Sunninghill Park to a Kazakh billionaire for £15 million (approximately $30 million at the time), as reported by .
In 2021, Giuffre filed a U.S. civil lawsuit accusing him of sexual assault, which led to a major television interview that compelled him to withdraw from public life. To avoid a trial, Andrew and Giuffre reached a settlement out of court a year later, the same year he sold his Swiss ski resort property, Chalet Helora, for approximately £19 million ($25.5 million) as reported by The Guardian. However, due to the substantial mortgage debt on the property, the sale yielded little to no profit for the former prince.
King Charles recently cut Andrew’s £1 million annual allowance and ceased funding his £3 million-a-year private security, as reported by . This forced Andrew to reportedly arrange ‘cost-effective’ private security, possibly financed by ‘Middle Eastern money’ or affluent contacts.