Minutes after former Prince Andrew was arrested on his 66th birthday, anti-monarchy group Republic claimed credit for the action and said they reported the former duke to Thames Valley Police earlier this month. "We reported Andrew to the police when others were unwilling to act. Republic has been instigating a private prosecution when the police were reluctant to investigate. Republic's lawyers will continue to investigate related alleged offences and provide information to the police over the coming weeks and months," Republic CEO Graham Smith said. "There is reason to believe that in relation to some offences other senior royals may be material witnesses. The police must follow all evidence wherever it leads."
Andrew became the first senior royal in modern history to be arrested.
Dramatic arrest of disgraced ex-prince
At least six unmarked police cars and around eight plain-clothed officers arrived at Sandringham Estate early Thursday and arrested the former prince on suspicion of misconduct in public office for allegedly forwarding confidetial trade documents to Jeffrey Epstein.
Andrew pushed through Epstein's fixer to get him on Windsor board
In a latest revelation, it has been alleged that Andrew pushed through Epstein's fixer to get him on the board of Windsor. The fixer has been identified as David Stern whose name appeared 7461 times in the latest release of the Epstein Files. Stern previously described Epstein as his boss. German businessman Stern, now 48, was close to both Epstein and Andrew. He later became the director of Pitch@Palace business. This revelation, however, is not the reason why Andrew was arrested.
Andrew was stripped of his royal titles over allegations of raping Virginia Giuffre in 2001 when she was 17 years old and was sex-trafficked by Epstein. Andrew denied the allegations and paid her a hefty compensation but that did not shut critics and the pressure to remove him from royal duties continued.
