Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s security officers are likely to have information on potential misconduct, the former head of the Royal Family’s protection officers has told Sky News.
Andrew was arrested on Thursday by Thames Valley Police on suspicion of misconduct in public office over allegations he sent confidential government documents to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein when he was a trade envoy.
As part of a separate inquiry, the Metropolitan Police has said it was identifying and contacting former and serving officers who may have worked closely with the former prince, asking them to “consider carefully whether anything they saw or heard” during their service could be relevant for their investigation.
“Wherever he [Andrew] went, he would have had a team of protection officers and they would have been with him normally 24 hours a day,” Dai Davies, who was in charge of royal protection for the late Queen Elizabeth and the wider Royal Family, told Sky News.
He said even at night, protection officers would be with Andrew, “so that in the event of an incident, they could act in accordance with their training”.
“Many of them had been with him for years, and they would have gone to all the five residents [of Jeffrey Epstein] that we’ve been talking about in the United States, Virgin Islands, New Mexico, and Florida,” he said.
“So it’s inconceivable to me, I’m sad to say, that nobody saw anything.”
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The Metropolitan Police previously said it was looking into whether Andrew’s protection officers turned a “blind eye” to his visits to Epstein’s island, Little St James.
Police are yet to identify whether there has been any wrongdoing by close protection officers.
‘Big questions’ for rest of staff – and palace
But the investigation should not just focus on royal protection officers, Mr Davies added.
“It should be about all the private secretaries, those who advise the late Queen [and] the King. There are so many people and those who have been named, they should be part now of an investigation,” he said.
As for the palace’s reaction to the latest revelations, which included stripping Andrew of his royal titles, Mr Davies believes “it’s a little late now for people to be doing what they have”.
He said: “There was no internal inquiry as far as I know. And if there was, where was it? Who did it? So there are big questions of the palace, unfortunately.”
Meanwhile, former prime minister Gordon Brown is calling for investigations into whether Andrew used jets, funded by the taxpayer, and RAF bases during his time as trade envoy to meet up with the convicted sex offender, The Sunday Telegraph reports.
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As part of its separate probe, the Metropolitan Police said it was assessing, with the help of US counterparts, whether London airports “may have been used to facilitate human trafficking and sexual exploitation”.
The former prince has only been arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office.
Read more: What exactly is misconduct in public office?
Andrew has vigorously denied any wrongdoing over his links to convicted sex offender Epstein, but has not directly responded to the latest allegations.
King Charles said in a statement after his brother’s arrest that “the law must take its course” and the police have “our full and wholehearted support and co-operation”.
Thames Valley Police officers are expected to continue their search at Andrew’s former home, Royal Lodge, in Windsor, Berkshire, over the coming days.
Call for ‘treason’ probe into Andrew’s Epstein links
Conservative former security minister Tom Tugendhat is calling for a parliamentary investigation into Andrew and Peter Mandelson‘s links to Epstein, telling The Sun on Sunday: “This goes beyond what a court could reasonably consider. Parliament must consider what it means for the country.
“If the worst is proved, do we need to revisit treason laws written 700 years ago?”
It comes as an influential group of MPs is understood to be meeting to discuss whether to launch a parliamentary probe into the role of UK trade envoys.
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The inquiry would focus on potential issues within the wider system and lessons to be learned, without specific commentary on Andrew, who was in the role for 10 years, until there is no risk of prejudicing criminal proceedings.
Sky News understands that the government is also to consider introducing legislation to remove Andrew from the royal line of succession.
Any such move by the government would only happen once the ongoing police investigation into the former duke has concluded.
Andrew is still eighth in line to the throne, behind Prince William and his three children, and Prince Harry and his two children, despite having his royal titles removed by the King last year as part of the fallout from his association with Epstein.
Removing him from the line of succession would require the agreement of other countries which share the UK monarch, including Australia, Canada and Jamaica.
