Mountbatten-Windsor was arrested on Thursday, his 66th birthday, on suspicion of misconduct in public office over allegations he sent confidential government documents to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein when he was a trade envoy. The former prince was released under investigation after being held by police for more than 10 hours. He has not been charged with any offence but looked haunted in a Reuters photograph after his release, slumped in the back of a Range Rover, eyes red and with a look of disbelief on his face.

The photograph of a man who was once a dashing naval officer and reputed favourite son of the late Queen Elizabeth was carried on the front page of newspapers in Britain and around the world, accompanied by headlines such as “Downfall”. Mountbatten-Windsor has always denied any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein, a convicted sex offender who took his own life in 2019, and said he regrets their friendship. But the release of millions of documents by the United States government showed he had remained friends with Epstein long after the financier was convicted of soliciting prostitution from a minor in 2008. Those files suggested Mountbatten-Windsor had forwarded to Epstein British government reports about investment opportunities in Afghanistan and assessments of Vietnam, Singapore and other places he had visited as the government’s Special Representative for Trade and Investment.

–Reuters–