Is Ex-Prince Andrew Leaving UK For China? Royal Expert Speculates On 'Disgraced' Royal's 'Two Fingers' Move

Police didn't pick a random day to arrest Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor: it was his 66th birthday, and the allegation—suspected misconduct in public office—lands with a particular thud in a country that still pretends it treats its elites like everyone else. He has been released 'under investigation' while detectives continue their inquiries, and Andrew has repeatedly denied wrongdoing.​

Investigators are examining claims he shared confidential government material with Jeffrey Epstein during Andrew's time as a trade envoy; the palace says it will cooperate; and one royal biographer is now floating China as the place Andrew could vanish to, partly because it would irritate Britain in a way the Gulf states might not risk.

The Heat Is Still in Britain

Thames Valley Police have been unusually direct about the mechanics of the case, confirming that 'as part of the investigation, we have today arrested a man in his sixties from Norfolk on suspicion of misconduct in public office and are carrying out searches at addresses in Berkshire and Norfolk.' If charged and convicted, the offence carries a maximum sentence of life in prison—an eye-widening fact for readers outside the UK, where the phrase 'misconduct in public office' can sound like bureaucratic trivia rather than a potentially career-ending criminal allegation.​

The allegations gaining traction come from newly released Epstein documents, which CBS reports include email threads that appear to show Andrew forwarding official reports from an Asia trip in 2010, and sharing what he described as 'a confidential brief' about investment opportunities in southern Afghanistan. It's hard to overstate how poisonous that looks in the public imagination: not just the Epstein association, but the suggestion of a royal-adjacent figure casually treating state paperwork like something you pass across a dinner table.​

The palace line, however, is not 'circle the wagons.' Buckingham Palace said the King had shown 'profound concern' and that, if approached, they stood ready to support police. King Charles, for his part, went even further, saying 'the law must take its course' and that the process should be 'full, fair and proper.'

And then there is the human wreckage that inevitably trails a case like this. Virginia Giuffre's siblings greeted the arrest as a moment of long-delayed recognition—'At last, today, our broken hearts have been lifted at the news that no one is above the law, not even royalty'—a reminder that, for many, Andrew is not a soap opera character but a symbol in a much uglier story.​

Prince Andrew Leaving the UK for China Could Be the Point

So where, realistically, could Andrew go? The tabloid imagination has fixated on the Gulf, with reports—attributed to The Sun—suggesting the UAE's Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan may have offered access to an expansive, staff-supported property in Abu Dhabi. Yet even leaving aside the optics of a disgraced British royal living lavishly abroad, the UAE is not some legal black hole, the UK and UAE have an extradition treaty that entered into force in 2008.

That's where Andrew Lownie's speculation becomes less about real estate and more about geopolitics. In comments reported by the Mirror, Lownie argues the Middle East option is constrained because 'If he were to go to the Middle East, they wouldn't want to upset the Royal Family,' adding: 'He would have to go with the [British] Royal Family's approval - which if that were known would be very unpopular - because their links with the King are more important than their links with Andrew.'​

Then comes the line that makes this feel like more than mere gossip: 'The other option, because he's not going to go and join Assad in Moscow, is China.' Lownie frames it as instinct rather than evidence—'I have no evidence of any of this except my instinct. But that would be a place he could go.' And he paints the motive in almost spiteful colours: 'He could disappear there, it would be a massive 'two fingers' to Britain from Xi Jinping.'

What makes the China idea stick—however speculative—is that Andrew's China links have been repeatedly documented in recent years, including reporting on court-released material about his communications and connections. If he wanted somewhere far from the British press pack, and somewhere the story could be managed rather than chased, the logic isn't hard to follow.