Ex-Prince Andrew challenges legality of searches linked to Epstein affair in court

Ex-Prince Andrew has filed a lawsuit to challenge the legality of searches carried out by police in February at the time of his arrest linked to the Epstein affair, and a hearing is due to be held on Thursday to examine this appeal, judicial services said on Monday.

“The case concerns an application made by Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor” as part of an appeal aimed at “cancelling search warrants issued by a judge of the Central Criminal Court on February 18, 2026,” said a spokesperson for these services. The searches took place in the residence of King Charles III's brother in Sandringham (eastern England) and in his previous residence in Windsor, about thirty kilometers west of London.

Suspected of having transmitted confidential documents

A hearing will take place on Thursday before a High Court judge in London, this source added, confirming information from The Telegraph newspaper. The brother of King Charles III was arrested in February and placed in police custody for several hours, unprecedented in the modern history of the British monarchy, after revelations concerning his links with the American sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein, who died in 2019 in prison.

The king's brother is the subject of a police investigation for "failure in the exercise of a public function", suspected of having transmitted confidential economic documents to Jeffrey Epstein when he was the United Kingdom's trade envoy between 2001 and 2011. The police indicated in May that they were also examining an accusation of sexual assault against the deposed prince.

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, 66, has not been charged at this stage. He has always denied any wrongdoing in connection with the Epstein affair. “While our investigation into misconduct in public office continues, we are engaged in legal proceedings relating to warrants previously obtained from the Central Criminal Court,” Thames Valley Police, who carried out the searches, confirmed to AFP.

Stripped of his titles in 2025 after new revelations about his links to sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein, he was forced to leave the Royal Lodge residence on the Windsor estate where he had lived since 2023, moving to the Sandringham estate in Norfolk. Andrew was accused of sexual assault by American Virginia Giuffre, notably when she was 17 years old. She committed suicide in April 2025.