King Charles’s younger brother, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, has launched legal action against English police following his arrest earlier this year on suspicion of misconduct in public office following the revelations of the Epstein files in the United States.
Mountbatten-Windsor, 66, asked a judge to determine whether Thames Valley Police’s actions against him earlier this year were lawful. The development was first reported on Sunday by British newspaper The Telegraph.
He applied for a judicial review into search warrants executed at his home on the Sandringham Estate and his former home at the Royal Lodge in Windsor.
A court hearing will take place on Thursday, British media reported on Monday.
Thames Valley Police confirmed to CNN on Monday that they were “engaged in legal proceedings in relation to warrants previously obtained from the Central Criminal Court” and would not be making any further comment while legal proceedings are ongoing.
CNN has also contacted the UK Judicial Office for comment.
The former Duke of York became the first high-ranking royal in centuries to be arrested in February, the latest extraordinary development in a years-long scandal over his links to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, which erased his reputation and plunged the royal family into crisis.
He was arrested by police on February 19 on his 66th birthday at his new home on his brother’s estate in Sandringham, Norfolk, eastern England. He was taken to Aylsham police station where he was questioned for almost 12 hours before being released under investigation. No charges have been filed; Police said their investigation was still ongoing.
Mountbatten-Windsor’s arrest came after law enforcement said they were assessing whether the former prince shared confidential information with Epstein during his decade as the United Kingdom’s trade envoy.
Mountbatten-Windsor has vehemently denied any wrongdoing in his dealings with Epstein, and has denied any personal gain from his role as trade envoy, according to British media.
He resigned from official royal duties in 2019 following a calamitous interview with the BBC about his friendship with Epstein. But headlines linked to the late financier continued to torment the disgraced royal. In 2025, King Charles stripped his younger brother of his princely title, following public outcry over the publication of a posthumous memoir by Virginia Giuffre, a prominent Epstein accuser who claimed Mountbatten-Windsor sexually assaulted her when she was a teenager.
Giuffre – who the prince claims to have never met – committed suicide in April 2025 at the age of 41. In addition to denying all allegations against him, Mountbatten-Windsor also insisted that he never witnessed or suspected any of the behavior that Epstein is accused of.
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