In the court of public opinion, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor has a serious case to answer – but there must now be severe doubt about whether the evidence against him will be tested at a trial.
The former Duke of York won his legal challenge against Thames Valley Police this week, after the force accepted search warrants used as part of its investigation into alleged misconduct in public office were unlawful.
A mistake in issuing the warrants under the wrong piece of legislation threatens to undermine any use of the documents seized in the police raids on Andrew’s homes at Sandringham and his former Royal Lodge mansion in Windsor last February.
His legal win was followed by a financial one. Andrew formally surrendered the lease on Royal Lodge on Friday, after leaving it in disgrace due to his ties to the late paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, receiving a £302,000 pay-off for the early termination of his lease.
Furthermore his older brother, King Charles, is footing the rest of the £1.5m bill for repairs to the dilapidated 30-bedroom home.
For now, the police investigation into the King’s brother for alleged misconduct in public office continues, and it will be for a judge to decide at a hearing next year whether the evidence they gathered can be used.
But on the face of it, this is an embarrassing blow to the investigation.
It already run into trouble because of an unwillingness by the US Department of Justice to release the full, unredacted emails from the Epstein files, which prompted claims that Andrew had abused his position by sending the financier confidential government information that could be commercially useful. Andrew has denied any wrongdoing.
The King is paying the bill for repairs to Royal Lodge on Andrew’s behalf (Photo: Getty)Andrew, 66, has every right to defend himself and use whatever tactics his lawyers deem best. But it is surely in the public interest that the allegations against him surrounding his friendship with Epstein, a convicted paedophile, are tested in open court so that if he is to clear his name justice is seen to be done.
For the moment this looks more cock-up than conspiracy. Some lawyers have described it as a preliminary skirmish in a wider legal battle that will have several more twists and turns.
But the wider concern for the monarchy and for the British government must surely be that if a case against Andrew collapses, there will be allegations of an Establishment stitch-up.
Some palace insiders and royal watchers have long doubted whether it will ever be allowed to get to a full trial. They have cited the previous failure of police investigations into Andrew and the decision in 2023 to end inquiries into cash-for-honours allegations at The King’s Foundation, the monarch’s main charitable organisation.
They have noted police requests for Andrew’s bodyguards to come forward with what they may have witnessed during the years when he was taking advantage of Epstein’s hospitality, enjoying the company of young women introduced to him by the financier and his sidekick, Ghislaine Maxwell, who is currently serving 20 years in jail for child sex trafficking.
The police’s efforts to question some of Andrew’s wealthy friends about what they saw have been frustrated by pals circling the wagons around him, according to some sources. At the same time, some of the women who have stories to tell about the former prince have also proved reluctant to come forward and face the intense scrutiny of a high-profile police investigation.
It may be frustrating for the police. But the problem for Andrew is that, unless he can clear his name in a fully open process, the allegations will never go away. Rightly or wrongly, he will go down in history as someone who was disgraced after becoming embroiled in a corruption and sex scandal.
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