Ex-Prince Andrew has dragged the royal family into dark shadows

As ex-Prince Andrew was driven out of a police station after spending his 66th birthday in custody, the disgraced royal’s complete downfall was almost complete.

With the threat of prison looming over his head, the favorite son of the late Queen Elizabeth II has also dragged down pretty much everyone around him, from his brother, King Charles, to the British monarchy itself.

His daughters, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, are both “in shock,” Page Six is told, following their father’s arrest and they feel “tarnished by his brush.”

Indeed, they could now face losing their own titles, although “I hope it doesn’t come to that,” a close friend told us.

Andrew’s ex-wife and closest confidant, Sarah Ferguson, has fled the UK for the middle east and is “suffering with her mental health,” per reports.

Things may escalate further for Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, as he is now formally known, as we’re told UK police investigators could head as far as Buckingham Palace, where he kept an office and a suite of rooms, and also gain access to his and his former staff’s computers and phones with a judge’s warrant.

“I think the only way this situation resolves itself — and allows the monarchy to move on — is if Andrew goes to prison,” said a well-placed royal insider.

“Truly, things can’t move on until we get a new reign [when Prince William is King] during which we might get a honeymoon period.”

Andrew’s face was aghast and deadly white after nearly 11 hours of questioning at Aylsham police station in Norwich on Thursday. He was arrested at his new rental home, Wood Farm on Sandringham Estate – where his father, Prince Philip, spent his final days – on suspicion of misconduct in public office.

The arrest relates to allegations Andrew shared confidential UK government information with convicted US pedophile Jeffrey Epstein during his time as a UK trade envoy between 2001 and 2011. He was released under investigation.

Andrew strongly and emphatically denies any wrongdoing.

Under UK law, misconduct in public office carries a potential life sentence, but a top barrister told us the prospect of Andrew getting that is “pretty small,” although they added “certainly, some form of imprisonment is a possibility.”

Sources say the arrest could give Charles the opportunity to slim down the monarchy even further. 

“The King took away Andrew’s titles, he can take away Harry and Meghan’s and he can take away Beatrice and Eugenie’s; he can do whatever he likes to save his skin,” insisted the royal insider.

“Charles asked Andrew to step down from all his duties, stripped him of his titles, what more is to come? Does the Palace know something truly even more dreadful that he has, allegedly, done?”

The evidence against Andrew was included in the release of millions of documents related to Epstein by the US government on Jan. 30. Epstein died while awaiting trial for sex trafficking in August 2019.

“The Queen believed in her son’s innocence to the end,” wrote Hugo Vickers, writer and friend of the royal family, in the Independent. “She would have been horrified by the police’s arrival at Wood Farm. Mercifully, she is spared that.”

“Whatever the outcome of this matter, it is not going to end well,” Vickers added.

Andrew currently remains eighth in line to the throne, but royal journalist Robert Jobson said the easiest way for Andrew — a man long known for his arrogance — to be removed would be if he were to voluntarily renounce his succession.  

If he doesn’t, it would take an act of parliament in every country in the UK Commonwealth of Nations, some 56 territories.

“The monarchy is about the king, and this [the arrest] is not an existential threat to the government. It’s a blow to the royal family,” Jobson said.

Those close to Andrew have lived under the shadow of his exploits ever since the Daily Mail first published a photo in March 2011 showing the royal in London ten years earlier with Epstein’s madam, Ghislaine Maxwell, and Virginia Roberts, who claimed she had then been forced to sleep with the former Duke of York aged just 17.

In January 2022, the Queen stripped her second son of his honorary military affiliations and royal patronages.  He also ceased using ‘His Royal Highness’ as a title.

The following month, Andrew settled a civil sexual assault lawsuit in the US with Roberts (then known by her married name Virginia Giuffre), using funds partly sourced from his mother, who died in September 2022.

Those familiar with the case say only a handful of people will ever know the exact settlement amount, but it was reported to be around $12 million. 

Roberts took her own life in April 2025. 

In a shameless move, Andrew has also dragged his daughters into the scandal. In a desperate 2019 interview with the BBC he insisted the photo of him with Roberts was fake and he could not have her in March 2001 because he was at a restaurant with Beatrice for a party.

“I know that Eugenie is very frustrated by the entire thing,” a friend told us, “She’s very, very frustrated.”

Hours before her father’s arrest, Hello! magazine reported Eugenie, 35, was on a skiing holiday in the posh Swiss resort of Gstaad, alongside her husband Jack Brooksbank, their children: August, five, and Ernest, two, and a group of friends. 

Amid rumors she has cut ties from her dad, the friend added, “To be frank, I’m not sure that’s exactly what’s happened,” while admitting that Beatrice, 37, remains closer to Andrew.

Another source previously told us both royals are focused on their children. Beatrice is mom to daughters Sienna, 3, and one-year-old Athena.

Despite everything, both women still happily use their princess titles despite not being working royals. In October, Princess Beatrice was identified at an event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, as “H.R.H. Princess Beatrice of York.”

And earlier this month Eugenie attended the inaugural Art Basel 2026 in Doha, Qatar, where she reportedly met up with her mom, Ferguson. She had voluntarily dropped her Duchess of York title after Andrew was stripped of his Dukedom.

As seen in the tranche of Epstein emails, Ferguson took both her daughters on vacation with the disgraced financier and used his cash for flights to the US.

Page Six reported Ferguson, 66, believed to be in the United Arab Emirates, could face questioning from police as a witness Andrew’s antics if – and when – she returns to the UK.

Ferguson has stayed loyal to Andrew, but their relationship is toxic, according to those who know them.

“They have clung together with no respect for the institution of divorce,” said the royal insider. 

The Daily Mail reported a source saying, “‘I’ve been talking to some of her friends. She sounds in a bad way. She’s been telling people she is really suffering with her mental health and thinks everyone is out to get her.”

Andrew’s scandal has continually overshadowed his brother’s monarchy. As Charles continues to battle cancer, he has had to deal with his brother’s situation, which has even led to him being heckled by members of the public in recent weeks.

The Epstein files showed Andrew apparently passing on details relating to his royal visits, investment opportunity briefings, and puffing Epstein up to officials.

On Dec. 24, 2010, Andrew appears to have sent Epstein classified information on investment opportunities in gold and uranium in Afghanistan. 

Signed “A. HRH The Duke of York KG”, he is alleged to have written: “J, Attached is a ­confidential brief produced by the Provincial Reconstruction Team in Helmand Province for International Investment Opportunities.

“These are not exclusive to ­Helmand Province but principally focused on that province.

“I am going to offer this ­elsewhere in my network (including Abu Dhabi) but would be very interested in your comments, views or ideas as to whom I could also usefully show this to attract some interest.

“I have sadly already found out that [Bill] Gates Foundation doesn’t do anything in Afghanistan.”

The attached document is titled “Helmand: High Value Commercial Opportunities for Foreign Investment Brief for HRH Duke of York: 19 December 2010”.

It also emerged that Andrew had apparently vouched for Epstein — then a convicted sex offender — during a 2010 state visit to the United Arab Emirates, which he attended with Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip.

An email alleged to have been sent from Andrew to Epstein said: “You are in big time.”

Following the arrest, Charles, 77, said the police had his “wholehearted support and co-operation.”

Andrew will now have to wait to see if he will face criminal charges, but the hands of justice tick slowly

“It can be months or sometimes years before anything happens in complex situations like this,” warned the barrister.

His nephew Prince Harry is far away from the fray in California, happily so, it appears.

In his 2023 memoir, “Spare”, Harry expressed his disbelief that his own security was removed while his uncle maintained his.

Despite calls for Mountbatten-Windsor to give evidence in the US, there is no real chance of that happening, a legal source pointed out, explaining, “He hasn’t been charged with any crime in the US, so there’s no reason to extradite him.”

“The institution circled the wagons on Andrew and cast Harry out. People tore shreds off him then for ‘airing his family’s dirty laundry’,” a source told us, adding that Harry had nothing further to say on the matter.

Despite calls for Mountbatten-Windsor to give evidence in the US, there is no real chance of that happening, a US legal source said, adding, “He hasn’t been charged with any crime, so there’s no reason to extradite him.”