It’s the story that led news channels and websites around the world on Thursday – and Spain was no exception.
Former Prince Andrew was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office at around 8am, following fresh revelations about his links to paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.
‘The Queen’s spoilt son who caused the Royal Family’s biggest crisis’, read one op-ed’s title by national Spanish daily El Pais.
It added: ‘The dealings of Charles III’s brother with the millionaire Epstein have shaken the foundations of Buckingham Palace.’
The analysis said his disastrous and infamous interview with Emily Maitlis on BBC Newsnight was the start of his downfall, branding it ‘a display of arrogance that proved his undoing.’
Andrew appeared on the show after he was accused of sexual abuse by Virginia Giuffre. He has always denied the accusations.
The El Pais piece recalled: ‘He demonstrated with abysmal clarity just how out of touch with reality the Queen’s son was.
‘His responses, filled with ludicrous arguments to deny his relationship with the woman (Virginina Guiffre) and delivered with an unbearable air of arrogance, caused a stir at Buckingham Palace and throughout British society.’
It said Andrew would have ‘never imagined in his worst nightmares that he would one day be arrested at home.’
La Vanguardia cried: ‘Former Prince Andrew: From Royal Hero in the Falklands to Epstein’s Accomplice’.
The article chronicles Andrew’s ‘fall from grace’, and how he ‘resorted to explanation and self-pity’ once his ties with Epstein became tabloid fodder in 2019.
It adds: ‘And above all, he lied. He claimed to have distanced himself from Epstein in 2006, but documents and photographs that came to light later showed that he maintained the relationship and didn’t hide it.’
Popular national paper 20Minutes branded the saga ‘Adrexit’, and pointed to his disastrous and infamous interview with Emily Maitlis as the moment that ‘changed everything’.
Andrew’s arrest was the top story on every national news website in Spain – whose royal family is closely linked to that of the UK’s.
Andrew was led away from Wood Farm in Sandringham, Norfolk, where he has spent the last fortnight living – and on his 66th birthday no less.
The arrest followed a series of revelations from the infamous Epstein Files – although the arrest has nothing to do with claims of sexual abuse.
This is the first time a royal has been arrested in Britain since Charles I some 300 years ago, which ultimately led to the formation of the UK Parliament.
Andrew Mountbatten Windsor arguably held public office as the UK’s trade envoy between 2001 and 2011, effectively representing the Government on the world stage.
But his late mother, The Queen, awarded him the job, not the Government, raising doubts about whether he was actually classed as a public official under the Crown Prosecution Service guidelines. He was also not paid for the role.
The investigation is focusing on whether Andrew shared confidential reports with the now-deceased paedopgile financier Jeffrey Epstein.
They are believed to relate to investment opportunities in Afghanistan and south east Asia, and were allegedly sent on following Epstein’s 2008 conviction for soliciting a minor in the US – for which he got a sweetheart deal that meant very little prison time.
Thames Valley police said in a statement on Thursday night: ‘We are able to provide an update in relation to an investigation into the offence of misconduct in public office.
‘Today we arrested a man in his sixties from Norfolk on suspicion of misconduct in public office.
‘The arrested man has now been released under investigation.
‘We can also confirm that our searches in Norfolk have now concluded.’
