‘He was never a prince’: Virginia Giuffre’s family speaks out as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor arrested in the UK

Virginia Giuffre’s family has welcomed news of the arrest of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, saying, “He was never a prince.”

Authorities in the United Kingdom arrested the former royal on Thursday “on suspicion of misconduct in public office” in relation to his former role as a trade envoy, and he remains in police custody.

While the arrest was not in connection with sexual abuse allegations against Mr Mountbatten-Windsor, the family of Giuffre, who was among his accusers, has issued a statement.

“At last, today, our broken hearts have been lifted at the news that no one is above the law, not even royalty,” Giuffre’s siblings said in a statement shared with CBS News.

“On behalf of our sister, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, we extend our gratitude to the U.K.’s Thames Valley Police for their investigation and the arrest of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. He was never a prince. For survivors everywhere, Virginia did this for you.”

The former prince has come under renewed scrutiny after the latest tranche of released materials from the so-called Epstein files shed further light on his relationship to the late pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

Mr Mountbatten-Windsor has routinely denied any wrongdoing and has not responded to persistent calls to testify in the U.S. about what he knew about the extent of Epstein’s various crimes.

Congress wrote to formally seek an interview with him last November, with the committee on oversight and government reform saying it had identified “financial records containing notations such as ‘massage for Andrew’ that raise serious questions.”

In its letter to Mr Mountbatten-Windsor, the committee cited “well-documented allegations” involving the former prince and accuser Giuffre, and a recently revealed 2011 email exchange in which Mr Mountbatten-Windsor told Epstein, “we are in this together.”

The committee said this “further confirms our suspicion that you may have valuable information about the crimes committed by Mr. Epstein and his co-conspirators.”

Earlier this week, a lawyer for Giuffre said that Mr Mountbatten-Windosr should be granted “safe passage” to the U.S. to testify about Epstein.

Speaking on Piers Morgan Uncensored, David Boies argued that Mr Mountbatten-Windsor has an “obligation” to disclose what he knows about the late financier and should be able to do so without fear of arrest.

The remarks followed Hillary Clinton’s statement that anyone asked to testify on Epstein, including the former prince, should appear before a congressional committee.

“He has an obligation to tell what he knows,” Boies said.

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