King Charles' ultimatum to Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor before his arrest: 'You need to do this'

King Charles issued Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor an ultimatum so he could "understand what was at stake" before stripping his younger brother of his royal titles, it has been claimed.

The former prince was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office on February 19 amid accusations he shared confidential documents with Jeffrey Epstein during his time as a UK trade envoy.

His arrest followed years of scandal which included accusations of sexual abuse and suspicion over his friendship with the convicted paedophile.

Andrew's royal exile began in November, 2019, when he stepped back from public duties, one day after speaking to BBC's Newsnight in an interview that was described as "excruciating" and "car crash" television.

British journalist Emily Maitlis grilled Andrew inside Buckingham Palace and she was in Australia last week speaking about the interview that helped to bring down a prince.

Maitlis said she was "stunned" when she first hear of Andrew's arrest on his 66th birthday.

"It was stunning, it was an extraordinary thing for a member of the British royal family to be arrested," Maitlis told the All About Women event 'Inside the Epstein Files', held at the Sydney Opera House on Sunday.

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"The other part of me said 'finally' because it had been nearly seven years [since the interview]."

Andrew's arrest was not related to accusations made by Virginia Giuffre, who claimed she was trafficked by Epstein to have sex with the former prince in London when she was 17 in 2001.

Andrew has always vehemently denied Giuffre's claims.

The former Duke of York made a financial settlement with Giuffre in 2022 after she sued him in a civil court but the deal included no admission of guilt.

Last April, Giuffre committed suicide at her home in Perth's outer suburbs aged just 41.

Maitlis appeared on on stage with Amy Wallace, the American journalist who co-wrote Giuffre's memoir Nobody's Girl that was published posthumously in early October.

Maitlis said she spoke to Giuffre's family on the day Andrew was taken into custody and they welcomed the police action.

"I remember [Sky Roberts, Virginia's brother] kind of saying, 'actually we just want to see justice served, whatever that means by whichever means – if this is the way that they can do it, they can do it'."

At the time of Andrew's arrest, around eight other police forces in the UK were looking into allegations made against him.

"This was the one that found enough evidence to go and make that arrest," Maitlis said.

"I don't think it means that the other forces are not working in concert or simultaneously on the much bigger questions that are still at stake."

Two weeks before Andrew's arrest, the King said via a statement that Buckingham Palace was "ready to support" police if the need arose.

Once Andrew was taken into custody, the King said "the law must take its course".

Maitlis said the King's decision to remove Andrew's titles, and evict him from Royal Lodge, was "his way of saying, my, my hands are off now".

Maitlis said the King had spoken to his brother about the need to formally remove his titles.

"I was given intelligence, sort of, from behind the scenes about the conversation that Charles had with his brother in October, which was [along the lines of] 'you need to do this if we want the monarchy to continue'.

"'You need to relinquish that title and get out of this house if you want to see a stable monarchy'.

"It was almost like 'let's not forget Mum' – maybe that wasn't the phrase he used – but I think from what I learned, there was this sense of real pressure on Andrew to understand what was at stake in terms of Charles's own reign."

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