A photo taken through a windscreen, the focus of it a man whose
eyes are turned red by the flash – it’s hardly portraiture but this
will be one of the defining images of the Royal Family in the 21st
century.
Around 7pm, on the evening of February 19 2026, a photographer
waiting outside a police detention centre in Norfolk. got the image
the whole world was waiting to see. Eleven hours after he became
the most senior royal to be arrested in over 350 years, Andrew
Mountbatten-Windsor was photographed in the back seat of the car
taking him back to his new home on the Sandringham estate.
The picture winged its way around the world in seconds. It has
now appeared on the front pages of newspapers across the globe and
been used endlessly on TV news shows and online. It is less than a
day old but it is already one of the most famous pictures of
royalty ever taken and it has a place in the history books of the
21st century, for all the wrong reasons.
For this one image captured the fall from lofty heights of a
former prince who some have claimed was always rather assured of
his royal importance. Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor had spent his
birthday in police custody, arrested on suspicion of misconduct in
public office.
Photographers and reporters had been looking at where the former
prince might be under questioning from the moment that it was known
that the eighth in line to the throne was in custody. The police
decision to release him, under investigation, was the culmination
of a dramatic day. And as the clock ticked towards seven, the crews
sent to Aylsham found themselves in charge of grabbing the image
everyone wanted.
This one image, of Andrew looking dazed and confused in the back
of the car, was snapped by Phil Noble for Reuters. He later said he
almost missed capturing this historic photo, noting ”..to be
honest, just before he arrived, I’d left and gone back to the
hotel.” However, a colleague then rang him to say two cars had
arrived and he headed back. Shortly afterwards, he found himself
taking an already world famous photo.
A glance at newspapers around the world shows just how important
a role this one image has in royal history. It’s on the front of
pages from Spain to Singapore as the Royal Family is rocked by the
shock of the second son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip
being arrested. From the sensational headline in the New York Post
”Prince of Darkness” to the more bald, statements of fact outlining
his arrest, this photo has been alongside them all.
The Royal Family has tried to distance itself from the former
prince in recent times, with King Charles III stripping him of all
his titles and honours. Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, as he is now
known, has also given up the lease on the thirty room mansion,
Royal Lodge, on the Windsor estate that he has lived in for over
twenty years.
Now living on The King’s private land at Sandringham, his new
life has started with a shock as he was arrested and then released
under investigation. As calls increase for him to be removed from
the Line of Succession, with Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey
the latest political voice to make that demand, the row around him
shows no signs of abating.
And at its heart, now, is one image that will go into the
history books and which will, seven decades from now, still be
telling the story of the Royal Family in the 21st century.
