Former Duke of York returns to Sandringham estate after being taken in custody for 11 hours by UK Police amid Jeffrey Epstein scandal
A visibly shaken man, once called the “Prince of Playboy”, slumps in the backseat of his Range Rover, staring ahead as the car leaves Aylsham police station in Norfolk, England.
The photo, taken by Reuters photographer Phil Noble, went viral when it was published late on Thursday (local time). Pictured is King Charles’ younger brother, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, after being released from police custody after a day of interrogation.
When news of Mountbatten-Windsor’s arrest broke early on Thursday, Manchester-based Noble began the six-hour journey south to Norfolk.
Following a tip-off, Noble went to the police station in the historic market town of Aylsham, where not much was going on. There were a few other media members there, and soon six or seven hours had passed. Darkness fell. Still nothing was happening. This seemed to be the wrong station; after all, it was more than an hour’s drive from Mountbatten-Windsor’s home in Norfolk.
Noble was packing his belongings and heading to his hotel when he received a call from his colleague, Reuters video journalist Marissa Davison. He said Mountbatten-Windsor’s cars had arrived.
Noble ran back just in time to see the two vehicles separate at high speed. There were two police officers in the car in front, so Noble pointed his camera and flash at the car behind.
He shot six frames; two showed police, two were blank, and one was out of focus. But one of them captured the unprecedented nature of the moment: For the first time in modern history, a senior royal was being treated like a common criminal. The image was widely used by media around the world.
“You can plan your experience, use it, and know roughly what you need to do, but everything still needs to be in harmony,” Noble said. “When you do car shots it’s more about luck than decision making.”
Reuters
