Will the British monarchy survive the scandal over the king's brother's ties to Epstein?

On 19 February, the United Kingdom and the entire world were shaken by news of the arrest of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor – the brother of King Charles III. The last time a member of the British royal family was arrested (and then executed) was King Charles I, but that was back in 1647.

This arrest is currently the most high-profile consequence of the latest wave of publications of the Jeffrey Epstein files, with whom Prince Andrew maintained a friendship and business contacts.

The king’s younger brother, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, previously known as the Duke of York but stripped of that title, was arrested on suspicion of abuse of office. Searches were also reported at properties linked to him in the counties of Berkshire and Norfolk.

Read more about the case and its consequences in the article by Iryna Kutielieva, a European Pravda journalist: Prison for a 'prince': what consequences will the arrest of the King's brother have for UK and the monarchy.

Andrew is the younger brother of King Charles III and the third child of Queen Elizabeth II and Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.

He met the controversial financier Jeffrey Epstein in 1999.

Their friendship regularly attracted media attention in Britain, but it came under closer scrutiny in 2008 after Epstein was convicted of procuring minors for prostitution.

In 2014, Virginia Giuffre gave testimony. According to her, she was forced to have sexual relations with Andrew three times. She was 17 years old at the time of the first alleged encounter with the prince.

Later, Andrew claimed in an interview with the BBC that he could not have had sexual contact with Giuffre because on the night in question he was at a Pizza Express restaurant.

However, the interview had catastrophic consequences because of other remarks he made – namely, that he did not regret his friendship with Epstein.

Following that interview, Andrew was forced to step back from royal duties.

Giuffre’s fate was tragic. She took her own life in 2025. That same year, her posthumous memoir, Nobody’s Girl, was published, in which she describes in detail how, as a vulnerable teenager, she was lured into a sex-trafficking network.

Against this backdrop, King Charles took the unprecedented step of officially stripping Andrew of both his princely title and all other honours.

But the final blow came with the emails and photographs released in 2025-26 by the US Department of Justice. They directly contradicted Andrew’s earlier statements in which he denied any wrongdoing.

For example, one email confirmed the authenticity of a photograph showing Andrew embracing the then 17-year-old Giuffre – a connection the prince had previously denied.

The files also contained correspondence indicating that Andrew shared confidential information with Epstein about investments in Afghanistan and forwarded reports concerning Vietnam, Singapore and other locations.

The publication of the so-called Epstein files in early 2026 dealt Andrew a knockout blow. Shortly thereafter, he was arrested.

At the same time, the arrest of the former prince is not related to suspicions of sexual crimes. Rather, it stems from information in the Epstein files about activities he carried out while serving as a trade envoy.

How the royal family handles this difficult situation will determine the level of public support it retains, as well as trust in King Charles III and other members of the royal family.

It is entirely possible that the future of the British monarchy itself will depend on the current events.

And although public sentiment does not currently appear to be anti-monarchical, the scandal surrounding former Prince Andrew is far from over.