Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor's the first senior British royal to be arrested in centuries

The arrest of former Prince Andrew at Wood Farm House in Sandringham is one for the history books - and not just because it happened on his 66th birthday.

It's because he's the first senior British royal in modern history - and the first British royal since the 17th century - to be arrested.

Six unmarked police cars arrived on the King's private Sandringham Estate on Thursday morning (9pm AEDT) and arrested Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor on suspicion of misconduct in public office.

The Thames Valley Police are investigating whether the King's younger brother passed on sensitive information to friend and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein as it appears to suggest in the latest cache of the Epstein files.

While Andrew's been stripped of his royal titles, he was born a prince to a reigning monarch, the late Queen Elizabeth, and is the brother of the current reigning monarch.

The last senior British royal figure to be arrested was King Charles I in 1647, who faced members of parliament when he went on trial for high treason in Westminster Hall.

Charles I was the son of King James VI of Scotland, who became heir to the throne after the death of his older brother in 1612 and succeeded his father in 1625.

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He was accused of initiating the English Civil Wars (from 1642-46 and 1648) and attempting to overturn the rights and liberties of the people. It was an era when London had a population of about 400,000 people.

He was found guilty and beheaded, at the age of 48, with the office of King formally abolished after his death.

There were 11 years of Parliamentary rule thereafter, until his son King Charles II was proclaimed King in 1960.

The same dramatic fate doesn't await Mountbatten-Windsor though.

If charged, Andrew could eventually be put on trial by the Crown Prosecution Service, prosecutors that work for the state in the name of King Charles III.

If he was to be convicted of charges relevant to what police have said they are investigating, Mountbatten-Windsor could face a maximum sentence of life in prison, though it's thought that's highly unlikely to be the outcome.

Whilst far and away the most significant police investigation into a member of the royal family in modern history, Mountbatten-Windsor isn't the first to have a run-in with the law.

His sister Princess Anne was prosecuted and fined in 2002 after her dog attacked two children and the Princess Royal pleaded guilty to a charge under the dangerous dogs act.

She became the first senior member of the British royal family to be convicted of a criminal offence, although she was never arrested over the crime.

Princess Anne was also convicted of speeding in 2001, having driven her Bentley at 93m/h (149km/h) in a 70m/h (112km/h) zone in Gloucestershire.

Anne's daughter Zara Tindall copped a six-month driving ban in 2020 after a speeding offence took her over the 12-point limit.

Mountbatten-Windsor's father Prince Philip also had a brush with police in 2019, voluntarily handing in his driver's licence after a crash in Norfolk that resulted in two women taken to hospital.

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