Court declares illegal searches of the house of former Prince André

O London High Court today declared illegal the searches carried out in February to the house of former Prince André during his arrest in the Epstein case, but ensured the legality of the investigation.

“A significant error was made at the time of the request and the issuing of search warrants”, which “is sufficient to make these warrants illegal, the searches and the material seized”, a judge of the Superior Court decided on a 10 page decision today.

King Charles III's brother, 66 years old, contested in the court the legality of searches in his current residence and in his former dwelling, following his historic arrest in February.

Ex-Prince André was not present at the hearing.

“ The fact that the search warrants were cancelled does not close the investigation, nor does it mean that the entire investigation was illegal,” said Judge Nicholas Hilliard.

In a statement, the Thames Valley police said they were looking for legal means to keep the articles seized during diligence and stressed that the investigation continues.

The police claim to accept “the position that the court’s initial decision to issue warrants based on the specific legislation used was incorrect and that, consequently, should be legally annulled”, acknowledging a procedural failure.

According to Judge Hilliard, the prince deprived of his titles opposes the police's request to maintain the evidence and a closed hearing will be held, "not before 2027", further prolonging this embarrassing case.

The magistrate pointed out, however, that “it would not make much sense to return this evidence if it were then to recapture it legally on the basis of another device”.

Andrew was arrested on 19 February — his birthday — and kept in police custody for several hours, a fact unprecedented in the modern history of the British royal family.

The searches were carried out at the residence of King Charles III's brother in Sandringham (Leste de england) and at his former residence in Windsor, about thirty kilometres west of London.

The arrest followed further revelations about his links to the American sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, killed in prison in 2019.

To date, he has not been formally accused and has always denied any irregularity related to the Epstein case.

It is the subject of a police investigation for “bad conduct in the exercise of public office”, on suspicion of passing confidential economic documents to Epstein when acting as a UK representative for trade between 2001 and 2011.

In May, police reported that they were also examining an accusation of sexual assault against André, stripped of his royal titles in 2025 by King Charles III, following, among other factors, the publication of facts that incriminating him in the posthumous memoirs of Virginia Giuffre, Epstein's principal accuser, who committed suicide in April 2025.

Former Prince Mountbatten-Windsor was charged with sexual assault by Giuffre when he was 17.

He was forced to leave the Royal Lodge residence at Windsor's estate, where he lived for over twenty years, to move to Sandringham's estate in Norfolk.