'Rather unfazed': I've covered the royals for years - but one thing about Andrew's arrest has really shocked me

LONDON -- In the eight years I've been nine.com.au's London correspondent, the word "unprecedented" has followed royal headlines in spades, almost losing its meaning.

There's been the exit of two senior – and very high-profile – royals in Prince Harry and Meghan, followed a few years later by Queen Elizabeth's Platinum Jubilee, a milestone no other monarch's ever achieved.

Prince Harry became the first senior royal in more than a century to take the stand in court and Prince Andrew became plain old Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.

Yet, despite all of that, today's news of Andrew's arrest is truly the most unprecedented royal event I've seen yet and one that supersedes all others.

On his 66th birthday, the former prince became the first senior British royal in centuries to be arrested – something not seen since King Charles I in 1647.

Despite the sheer magnitude of this moment in history currently unfolding, the mood in London is largely unfazed... or rather, unsurprised.

"The Andrew Problem", as it's reportedly become known behind palace walls, has been plaguing the monarchy for the better part of 15 years, since his friendship with the late Jeffrey Epstein – a convicted sex offender – first raised eyebrows.

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Photos of Prince Andrew strolling around Central Park in New York in 2010 after the disgraced financier was released from jail for soliciting and procuring a minor for prostitution caused outrage.

It eventually led Queen Elizabeth's second son – and former spare – to quit his role as UK's trade envoy in 2011, after 10 years in the role.

Since then, the former Duke of York was swept up in allegations of sex with underage women trafficked by Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, a former university friend of the prince, all of which Andrew denies.

But the latest release of Epstein files – a cache of three million emails to and from the paedophile, who died by suicide in August 2019 – pokes holes in a number of Andrew's stories, including those told in his car crash Newsnight interview of November 2019 about the end of their relationship.

It's also led Thames Valley Police to investigate whether Andrew handed Epstein sensitive information, leading to his arrest on suspicion of misconduct in public office.

While the King's brother is yet to be charged over anything, the arrest alone seems to carry the sentiment with the public that it's about time – it marks Andrew's first formal police questioning after 15 years of rumblings about his friendship with Epstein, who faced multiple investigations in the US from the FBI.

One British resident told 9News outside Buckingham Palace the day of Andrew facing any kind of justice has "been a long time coming".

"[I'm] just really pleased that maybe things are actually starting to happen, and accountability is gonna be taken," she said.

It was a sentiment echoed by Dutch tourist Monique van Vongen.

"It's definitely also an important signal that it's taken very seriously – It's been a long time coming, I guess," she told 9News.

While in Norfolk, where Andrew was arrested, the locals weren't surprised by the morning appearance of six unmarked police cars outside Wood Farm House.

Given it's been 379 years since anything like this has happened to the British monarchy, it's not something Buckingham Palace has had to face before – let alone in the social media age.

However, there's been no radical moves from the palace.

Only a quickly-issued – but strong – statement from King Charles, who last year stripped his brother of all his titles and had him struck off the peerage roll, resting the Duke of York title for now.

As a result of his decisive action, reportedly at the urging of son Prince William, the general public believe the King's done a good job of handling the continued scandal surrounding his brother.

However, there is a slight shifting of mood in the fact King Charles chose to make this extreme move in October last year, months before the damning new details became public – prompting questions of what, exactly, the royals knew, and when.

Anti-monarchy groups, like Republic, are calling for the monarch and his heir to face tougher scrutiny in relation to the matter, saying they "must address what they knew and when, how Andrew's conduct was unreported for so long".

There is some public sentiment growing in that direction, including regular heckling at events attended by members of the royal family, which is also something quite new across the eight years over here.

However, while the latest developments raise more questions than answers, overwhelmingly it seems across the UK people are just happy someone's asking questions of the former Prince Andrew who once thought he was untouchable.

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