Disgraced Former Prince Andrew Has Made History For All The Wrong Reasons

On February 19, 2026, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the brother of King Charles III, was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office. He was released from custody without charges about 11 hours later, leading to the moment a photographer quickly snapped the infamous photo of a wide-eyed Andrew looking terrified in the back of a car. Nobody knows how things will turn out for Andrew, but at the very least, he's already made history twice: He was the first royal to be stripped of a title in over 100 years, and he became the first royal to be arrested in almost 400 years.

In October 2025, Charles took away his brother's titles, including that of Duke of York. This also affected his ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, who will not be known as the Duchess of York moving forward. You have to go all the way back to 1917 for the last time a member of the royal family experienced a similar disgrace. Then, a grandchild of Queen Victoria, Prince Charles Edward, had all his titles (such as the Duke of Albany) stripped away by British Parliament through the Titles Deprivation Act 1917. The reasoning was because the prince — who became the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha when he was still a teenager — gave up his ties to the family to fight on the side of Germany in World War I.

Andrew's arrest also marked the first time a royal family member had been arrested since King Charles I in 1649. He was brought in on charges of high treason, and once he was found guilty, he was beheaded three days afterward.

Although many were thrilled to see Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor arrested, seeing it as someone finally being held to account for crimes associated with Jeffrey Epstein, the reasoning may not have been what people expected. Reports state Andrew was arrested for allegedly sharing top-secret information with Epstein during his time as a U.K. trade envoy. As of writing, Andrew has not yet been found guilty.

Andrew may have also had his titles taken away, including that of prince, but his line of succession to the throne remains in place. His chances of ever becoming king are already extremely slim because he's eighth in line. Still, seeing the seriousness of the situation, the royal family and the British government are working together on a solution. Defence Minister Luke Pollard told BBC Radio 4's Any Questions that removing Andrew from the line of succession was "something that I hope will enjoy cross party support, but its right that that is something that only happens when the police investigation concludes."

Andrew is a prince and a duke no more, but anyone seeking to see some sort of swift judgment that completely removes him from the royal family will have to be patient. James Murray, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, said "any questions in that sphere would be quite complicated" while speaking to the BBC. As long as seven people don't die ahead of him, there is time to wait.