In one of the gravest crises to affect the House of Windsor, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was arrested on Thursday on suspicion of misconduct in public office in connection with his close relationship with late paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
He was taken into custody on Thursday morning by the Thames Valley Police in Sandringham, where the former prince is currently living after his brother King Charles III stripped him of his titles and honours and evicted him from his royal residence.
However, the former prince can be kept in custody only for 24 hours per CNN, after which the police would have to formally charge him with a crime or release him. If the police need to hold him for longer - 36 to 96 hours - extensions from senior officers and the Magistrate's Court would be required.
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The longest the police can hold Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor for is 96 hours, which is the longest amount of time a suspect can be held for a serious crime.
According to English law, suspects can be released on bail if there is not enough evidence. The released suspects do not have to pay the bail amount, but they are required to return to the police station for questioning if needed.
Danny Shaw, a policing commentator, told the BBC that the former prince will be placed in "a cell in a custody suite" with just "a bed and a toilet", where he is supposed to wait till the police interview him. He also added that "there'll be no special treatment for him".
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The arrest follows a ratcheting up of allegations against Mountbatten-Windsor in the wake of the release of millions of pages of files last month related to Epstein by the US Justice Department.
Many of the recent allegations centre on sexual impropriety on the part of Mountbatten-Windsor, specifically that a woman was trafficked to the UK by Epstein to have a sexual encounter with the then-prince.
Thames Valley Police said it was "assessing" reports that Mountbatten-Windsor sent confidential trade reports to Epstein in 2010, when the former prince was Britain's special envoy for international trade.
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The Crown Prosecution Service, which decides on whether a charge has the potential to lead to a successful prosecution, defines misconduct in public office as the "serious willful abuse or neglect of the power or responsibilities of the public office held."
(With inputs from agencies)
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