Andrew scandal timeline – Pizza Express claims, £12m settlement and birthday arrest

The Queen’s favourite son would have had his mugshot and DNA swabs taken and allowed one phone call after his bombshell arrest, which marks an extraordinary fall from grace

View 7 Images

It is a picture that has shocked the world. A shell-shocked Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor looked wild-eyed as he slouched in the back of a car, getting a lift away from the police station after being arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office on his 66th birthday.

Cops swooped at 8am on his home at the Sandringham estate after he was accused of sharing sensitive information with paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein while serving as the UK’s trade envoy.

It marked a staggering fall from grace for the late Queen Elizabeth’s favourite son and was said by one former aide of his mother to likely leave the Royal Family feeling “bruised” and “shattered”.

But how did it come to this? It’s a saga that has been running for more than seven years, encompassing everything from Pizza Express in Woking to losing his titles and now a day in custody.

That Newsnight interview

In November 2019, Andrew gave a “car crash” BBC Newsnight interview where he used Pizza Express in Woking as an alibi for not having had sex with accuser Virginia Giuffre, who said a photo was taken of the pair in the London home of Ghislaine Maxwell.

Asked how he could remember, 18 years on, he said: “Going to Pizza Express in Woking is an unusual thing for me to do.” He also suggested the photo may be fake. He stepped back from royal duties four days later.

Maxwell – serving a 20-year jail term for helping her ex Jeffrey Epstein abuse young girls – claimed it was taken in her London home in a 2015 email released in the latest Epstein files.

£12 million settlement

In January 2020, US prosecutors claimed Andrew had “provided zero co-operation” over the Epstein sex trafficking inquiry and Virginia Giuffre launched legal action in August 2021 for allegedly sexually assaulting her when she was a teenager.

In January 2022, a US judge ruled that the civil case against Andrew could go ahead and his royal status was downgraded as the late Queen stripped him of his honorary military roles. He also gave up his HRH title.

A month later, court documents revealed Andrew and Ms Giuffre have reached a “settlement in principle” in the civil sex claim and he paid £12m, which ensured Andrew would never have to face Virginia in a US court.

It was later reported that Andrew was loaned £12million by his parents to pay the settlement. The late Queen is said to have stumped up £7million for the 2022 settlement, with another £3million coming from Prince Philip’s estate — a year after his death.

Stripped of Royal titles over his links to Epstein

In January 2024, allegations against Andrew resurfaced again in unsealed documents as part of Ms Giuffre’s civil claim against Ghislaine Maxwell, including claims Andrew was involved in sex tapes.

That December, a High Court hearing revealed Andrew’s links with alleged Chinese spy Yang Tengbo, who was banned from the UK. The hearing described him as a “close” confidant of Andrew.

Last October, Buckingham Palace announced Andrew would stop using his titles and honours, including the Duke of York and Prince title, after bombshell allegations made in Virginia’s posthumous memoirs, six months after she took her own life aged just 41.

And in December, Andrew was effectively banished from Royal Family festivities, including missing the main Christmas celebration and was booted out of the sprawling 30-room mansion after it emerged last year he had been paying a “peppercorn” rent for decades.

Bombshell arrest

And now, in February 2026, emails from 2010 and 2011 were released that appear to show Andrew sharing confidential trade envoy information with Epstein. Andrew formally moved out of his Royal Lodge residence to relocate to Sandringham Estate, where he was arrested on Thursday.

Cops swooped at his new home at 8am, announced themselves to staff and told Andrew he was being arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office.

He was then whisked off to a police station where he is thought to have been processed like a common criminal suspect, including being fingerprinted and having a mug shot.

He was taken aside and read his rights, then allowed to get ready while being shadowed by one of the arresting officers, the Sun reports. His two ­private bodyguards, former Met bobbies, stayed by his side as the search team rifled through cupboards and drawers.

At 8.54am he was driven to ­Aylsham police station, 55 minutes away, for questioning and he is believed to have sat alone in the rear of an unmarked police Volvo XC90 with a Norfolk Police Range Rover ahead and another carrying his bodyguards at the rear.

He was reportedly spared the indignity of being put in handcuffs and after spending 11 hours in custody, he was released at around 7pm and looked a broken man as he was driven off.

Retired detective chief inspector Mick Neville told The Sun: “I doubt whether the police gave him tea in a bone china cup and the microwaved food in custody centres is virtually inedible. It’s an extraordinary fall from grace.”

For the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletter by clicking here.