The arrest of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor Thursday over his ties to Jeffrey Epstein is “a huge blow” to the royal family, according to experts — who say the British government must move fast to remove him from being in line for the throne.
“Removing Andrew from the line of succession needs to be speeded up,” said Robert Jobson, author of “The Windsor Legacy: A Royal Dynasty of Secrets, Scandal and Survival.”
This comes after Andrew was arrested on his 66th birthday on suspicion of misconduct in public office while he was a British trade envoy.
Andrew has denied all allegations against him.
King Charles III stripped his 66-year-old brother — formerly Prince Andrew, Duke of York — of all royal titles last year amid revelations of his association with billionaire pedophile Epstein. But Andrew still remains eighth in line to the throne, currently behind Charles’s children and grandchildren.
“The easiest thing to do this would be for him [Andrew] to renounce” his position, said Jobson.
But Lady Colin Campbell, who has written numerous books about the royal family, does not expect that to happen because it could appear to be “an indication of guilt.”
If Andrew refuses, a change to the line of succession would need to be done as an act of parliament in each country where the king is the head of state, Jobson explained.
King Charles is the monarch for 15 countries known as the Commonwealth realms — including Canada, Australia and Jamaica, which has already been making moves to break free. Each of those countries would have to pass their own acts of parliament to remove Andrew from the line of succession, Jobson told The Post.
“He absolutely should [renounce] to spare his brother and give him a break. This is a huge blow to the royal family,” said Jobson, who nonetheless does not think it will end the monarchy.
And even if eighth in line is a long way from being king, it’s the symbolism that matters, experts told The Post.
Hours after the arrest at Andrew’s Wood Farm cottage on Charles’s Sandringham estate, the 74-year-old king was reportedly heckled at Nigerian designer Tolu Coker’s Fall-Winter 2026 show during London Fashion Week.
For months, the king has been taunted about his brother at public events — with protesters yelling things like, “Have you asked the police to cover up for Andrew?”
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Colin Campbell believes that the revelations about Andrew has had “a detrimental effect” on the king’s health, even as he announced he was scaling down treatment for cancer in December.
“The king and the queen and the other members of the royal family are trying to go about their business as usual, but they are taking all of this very seriously,” Colin Campbell said.
Andrew’s arrest is just the latest in a string of embarrassments for the royal family, which has also endured claims of racism by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle before they stepped down as working royals, Princess Diana’s accusations of the family spying on her and mistreating her, and the public exposure of Charles’ humiliating messages to Queen Camilla during their 1980s affair — including jokes about being reincarnated as a tampon.
The king has promised “full and wholehearted support” to the investigation into his disgraced brother while stressing that “the law must take its course.”
Andrew was “released under investigation” hours after his arrest on suspicion that he had shared confidential material with Jeffrey Epstein, which carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
Emails sent in 2010 to Epstein, who had by that time been convicted of child sex offenses, suggest Andrew forwarded reports of his visits on behalf of the British government to East Asia.
He also discussed setting up a private wealth management business in China.
