It was an ordinary Thursday morning.
I was in the kitchen making a cup of tea when I heard the news that Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the former prince, had been taken into police custody in the early hours of 19th February on suspicion of misconduct in public office. On his 66th birthday, no less.
Unexpected News
All I could do was gasp. But why should I have been shocked that the law had finally caught up with a man who has been accused of having sex with a 17-year-old and of forwarding sensitive government documents to the person who trafficked the said 17-year-old? We all know why. Because he was a man with power and influence, and men with power and influence hardly ever face the consequences of their actions. Well, on that ordinary Thursday morning, all of that changed. Little did I know that Peter Mandelson would also be arrested on suspicion of the same offence just four days later. Both men have denied any wrongdoing.
You might have seen that infamous photo of Andrew leaving the police station circulating on the internet. It is an image that will come to define him, I think. In it, he’s slumped down in the back of a car, eyes wide in bewilderment, mouth contorted into a fatigued frown. It’s the face of a man who has lost all dignity, who knots his fingers together as though they can prevent his reputation from tumbling down like a house of cards. Clearly, the police didn’t send him home with a slice of birthday cake. When I saw the photo, I couldn’t help but laugh out loud. And I’m sure many other women did too. There is something very satisfying about a man who thought he was invincible being utterly shaken to the core.
Accusations Against Andrew
Let’s remind ourselves of the events that have led up to this moment. Back in 2015, 32-year-old Virginia Giuffre accused Andrew of sexually abusing her multiple times when she was just a teenager. She alleged that they had met in 2001 when Andrew was still a royal and friends with the disgraced financier Jeffery Epstein, since known for running a sex trafficking ring involving dozens of vulnerable, underage girls. As Hillary Clinton put it, this was a ‘global scourge with an unimaginable human toll.’ When the allegations first came to light, the outrage from the public was palpable. In a botched attempt to dispel some of the accusations against him, Prince Andrew agreed to take part in an interview with BBC Newsnight’s Emily Maitlis in 2019.
I’m sure it is a video many of us will never forget — one that spawned countless memes about sweat and Pizza Express. Andrew sought to downplay his relationship with the convicted sex offender, but viewers were not convinced. Anger towards him reached a fever pitch. And you can clearly understand why. Here was a member of the royal family, someone who lived a life of privilege and extravagance, unbothered by Maitlis’ questions. A man who refused to express regret for being friends with a paedophile, or spare a single thought for Epstein’s victims. For a while, it seemed that life continued as normal for the Prince and Epstein’s associates. That is, until the White House released the Epstein Files in late 2025. Then everything changed.
Epstein’s ‘Little Helpers’
Suddenly, lies were exposed in an avalanche of photographs and emails. Influential men’s actions have been called into question. The aftershocks from the Epstein Files are being felt across the globe, from Norway’s political elite and the University of Cambridge to Silicon Valley and the government of Slovakia. Firstly, there was Larry Summers, a former U.S. Treasury Secretary and teacher at Harvard University, who resigned after emails revealed he had asked Epstein for advice on how to chat up women, years after the paedophile pleaded guilty to soliciting a minor for prostitution. By that time, Epstein was not someone anyone with a moral compass would want to take dating advice from.
Next came revelations surrounding Peter Mandelson, whom Starmer appointed as Ambassador to the U.S. in 2024. In addition to featuring in Epstein’s ‘birthday book’ and having his photo taken in his underwear in the financier’s Paris apartment, the then-Business Secretary is alleged to have emailed Epstein, asking ‘How shall we celebrate?’ shortly after he was released from prison in 2009. Mandelson’s reputation took a bruising in the days following these leaks, yet it still seemed that he had emerged from the scandal relatively unscathed. It wasn’t until he was accused of receiving tens of thousands of pounds from Epstein and forwarding market-sensitive information to him, including discussions around axing the banker’s bonus tax and a speech on the British higher education system, that the Prince of Darkness started to feel the heat. Now, several of his properties have been searched by the police, and he has been forced to step down from the House of Lords.
You might think you have a relatively strong stomach, that you’re the sort of person who doesn’t bat an eyelid at turbulence and could eat Carolina Reapers for breakfast. But I think even your belly would churn after reading some of the grovelling messages Sarah Ferguson (Andrew’s ex-wife) supposedly sent to Epstein. ‘Thank you Jeffery for being the brother I have always wished for,’ she told him in an email from 2009. ‘You are a legend … Just marry me,’ she wrote in another, a year later. In fact, weeks after publicly condemning ‘paedophilia’ in 2011, Ferguson messaged Epstein to ‘humbly apologise’ and reassure him that she would never say ‘the P word’ about her ‘dear friend.’ Someone fetch me a bucket, please, because I think I am about to throw up. Ferguson has luckily had her comeuppance. She’s been dropped as the patron of numerous charities and lost her title of Duchess when the King stripped Andrew of his.
For too long, the rich and famous have eluded justice. Their ability to bounce back from scandals could be measured by the size of their social network or how quickly they could write a cheque. Not any longer. The response to the Epstein scandal has altered this, culminating in the only instance of a member of the Royal Family being arrested in modern history. It is a shame that the police have acted so swiftly in the interests of the state, by investigating potential misconduct in public office before fully addressing the concerns of Epstein’s victims. But it still feels like a win. If it were not for the years of campaigning undertaken by survivors and their relatives, the Epstein Files would likely never have surfaced.
Will Justice Triumph?
Being mentioned in the Epstein Files is not proof of wrongdoing, of course. But choosing to contact a sex offender does show an utter disregard for victims of paedophilia and abuse. Epstein’s ‘little helpers,’ as journalist Marina Hyde calls them, are finally paying the price. Unfortunately, others are getting caught in the crossfire. I can’t help but feel sorry for the innocent celebrities whose names will forever be tarnished by this scandal, and the ordinary people who have lost their jobs for being indirectly linked to one of Epstein’s associates. But do you know who I feel more sorry for? His victims. The people who suffered years of horrendous mistreatment. Whose childhoods were destroyed and whose lives were upended in the most horrific way imaginable. They deserve to know the truth about how Epstein was able to evade justice for so long. Indeed, the whole world needs an explanation. If this is how it is to be achieved, then so be it.
Despite some questionable redactions, the Epstein Files and Andrew’s subsequent arrest prove that nobody is above the law. Crucially, the King has not provided his brother with a get-out-of-jail-free card. Instead, he’s simply stated that the ‘law must take its course’ and his thoughts remain with Epstein’s victims. This is a major cause of celebration for women not just in the UK, but across the globe. In a world where faith in the justice system, the police and the monarchy is at an astronomical low, these developments go some way towards restoring victims’ trust in our institutions. The message reads that their abusers, regardless of status or birthright, cannot escape the gavel. Ahead of International Women’s Day this March 8th, the move is more important than ever.
Virginia Giuffre’s family ‘celebrated’ when Andrew was arrested, releasing a statement saying, ‘For survivors everywhere, Virginia did this for you.’ She truly did, taking on powerful men even when it seemed like the odds were stacked against her. When I look at that photo of Andrew, all I can think of is how his cowardly expression after just one day of questioning contrasts with the bravery of survivors who endured years of abuse. And not just at the hands of Jeffrey Epstein, but also monsters like Harvey Weinstein, Dominique Pelicot and Mohamed Al-Fayed. The events of the last couple of weeks are a beacon of hope for those who seek justice and a warning to those who believe they can evade it.
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