Former Prince Andrew Is Suing the Police Who Arrested Him, and Robert De Niro Tells Him: "He Should Drop the Lawsuit"

A man who has lost his titles, his public role and nearly every shred of reputation is now making a move the British crown hasn't seen in centuries: Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor is suing the police who arrested him. The former Duke of York, once Elizabeth II's favourite son, has filed for judicial review at the High Court in London, challenging the lawfulness of the search warrants issued by the Old Bailey.

Let's recall how we got here. On February 19, his 66th birthday, Thames Valley Police detained and questioned him on suspicion of misconduct in public office. The trigger was documents from the Epstein case, according to which Andrew, while serving as the UK's special trade envoy, allegedly forwarded confidential business reports to Epstein. His homes, Wood Farm at Sandringham and Royal Lodge, were also searched.

Now he claims detectives also took private, confidential material during the searches that has nothing to do with the investigation. According to Britain's Telegraph, a ruling is expected soon, and if Andrew wins, police would have to return everything they seized. That would be a serious blow to an investigation that began after the Epstein files became public this year.

Buckingham Palace has already said it will not be paying for this fight. That may be the most honest sentence in the whole story: the royal family is distancing itself from a man who is still the King's brother. According to British media, this is the first time since the trial of Charles I in 1649 that a member of the royal family has challenged legal proceedings. Britain is already debating whether civil courts should scrutinise how police treat royals, or whether the Windsors are once again getting treatment no ordinary suspect would get. It's also an open question whether the key hearing will be held in secret or in public.

On the other side of the Atlantic, Robert De Niro entered the story. The actor took part in a mass protest in New York's Washington Square Park demanding full release of and an investigation into the Epstein files, and presented a travelling library carrying physical printouts of all 3.5 million documents the US Justice Department has released so far around the country.

When Britain's Sun asked him whether Andrew should apologise, De Niro didn't think for long: "Of course, everyone who was involved should do that. He should drop the lawsuit." For the actor, it makes no sense that the man, instead of answering for his past, is spending his energy on a legal fight with police over seized personal belongings.

Andrew has always denied involvement, and he reached an out-of-court settlement with an Epstein victim while his mother was still alive. He was removed from public duties in 2019. But the files keep revealing a different picture of that friendship. And the pattern is familiar well beyond Britain: how many times have we watched the powerful, instead of answering for themselves, sue those who investigate them?