Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor's inner circle of aides, confidantes and business associates could face questions from detectives as a police investigation into the former Duke of York's affairs continues to widen.
Police protection officers have become the latest to be ordered to tell detectives everything they know, with Scotland Yard informing staff last night to 'consider carefully anything they saw or heard' while working for him.
Questions have been asked about what Andrew's taxpayer-funded security may have witnessed, and potentially turned a blind eye to, during the time he spent with paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.
But there is speculation others who worked closely with the former prince could also now be called in as potential witnesses.
Officers are today expected to continue searching Andrew's former home, Royal Lodge in Windsor, following his arrest on Thursday, his 66th birthday.
Thames Valley Police released the former Duke of York under investigation 11 hours after picking him up at his new home on the royal Sandringham Estate, on suspicion of misconduct in public office.
Andrew has faced allegations of passing potentially confidential and sensitive documents to Epstein while working as a UK trade envoy between 2001 and 2011.
A separate report made to Thames Valley Police alleges a woman in her 20s was trafficked by Epstein to Andrew for sex at Royal Lodge in 2010. The force are assessing the claims.
Andrew has previously denied claims by Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre that she had sex with him three times - in London, New York and on Epstein's private island.
West Yorkshire Police yesterday became the tenth UK force to announce it was assessing the contents of the three million pages of Epstein Files released by the US Department of Justice.
Meanwhile, former prime minister Gordon Brown, who also served as Chancellor during Andrew's decade as an envoy, said he had passed a 'five-page memorandum' to the Metropolitan, Surrey, Sussex, Thames Valley and other UK police constabularies.
Detectives have been reviewing allegations against Andrew after files suggested he shared reports of official visits to Hong Kong, Vietnam and Singapore with Epstein.
Andrew has denied any wrongdoing over his Epstein links but has not directly responded to the latest allegations.
As the investigation continues, detectives may well want to consider those who worked for and advised Andrew - so who might have information that could be of interest?
Amanda Thirsk
Known as the former prince's closest aide and 'right-hand woman' for 16 years, Amanda Thirsk, 60, served as Andrew's private secretary between 2012 to 2020.
She was instrumental in persuading Andrew to agree to his one-on-one car crash interview with Emily Maitlis for Newsnight in 2019 - which ultimately led to her sacking.
Having joined the royal household in 2004, the Cambridge graduate subsequently reached a legal settlement over her dismissal, including a payment in the tens of thousands.
She continued on however as chief executive of Pitch@Palace - the former Duke of York's Dragons' Den-style scheme for entrepreneurs.
During her time working with Andrew, she accompanied him on several trips in his role as a trade envoy and liaised with government officials on his behalf.
Her name appears dozens on times within the released Epstein files, though there is no suggestion she is involved in any wrongdoing.
She now holds a senior business development role for Chinese e-commerce company JD.com.
Daily Mail has approached Ms Thirsk for comment.
Known as the former prince's closest aide and 'right-hand woman', Amanda Thirsk, 60, served as Andrew's private secretary between 2012 to 2020
Dominic Hampshire
A trusted member of the Royal Family's inner circle, Dominic Hampshire was said to have acted as the 'senior advisor' who brokered the relationship between the former Duke of York and an alleged Chinese 'spy'.
Businessman Yang Tengbo, also known as Chris Yang or H6, was barred from the UK in 2023 on national security grounds after MI5 accused him of conducting 'covert and deceptive' work for the Chinese state.
Yang denied the accusations. Court documents revealed he had built an 'unusual degree of trust' with Andrew, who was subsequently warned by MI5 to cut all ties with him.
Mr Hampshire was described in the same court filings as Andrew's 'advisor' in his dealings with Yang. There has been no indication, to date, that the police investigation will consider Andrew's dealings with Yang.
The 58-year-old credited Yang with helping to salvage Andrew's reputation in China following his Newsnight interview and said in a witness statement that there was 'nothing to hide' in the exchanges between Andrew and Xi – they were full of 'top-level nothingness', such as birthday wishes.
Mr Hampshire, a former Scots Guard who rose to the rank of captain, spent the final three years of his decade in the Army as an equerry to the Duke of Kent.
He previously said his role involved 'running the professional life' of the Duke of Kent, with official records showing he accompanied His Royal Highness – a cousin of Queen Elizabeth II – on royal engagements in the late 1990s to countries including France, Canada and South Africa.
The married father-of-two from Chalfont St Peter, Bucks, has long acted as a 'fixer' for members of the Royal Family and other 'high net-worth individuals.'
After leaving the armed forces, Mr Hampshire, who was born in Edinburgh but moved to Africa as a child before boarding at Cheltenham College, helped establish travel company Latitude International. He joined the firm, which specialises in the finest holiday hospitality, as a director in 2003.
Mr Hampshire and the former Duke are said to have bonded over their shared love of golf and after Andrew's disastrous Newsnight interview, the advisor became more involved in his affairs.
He is said to have held secret meetings with Andrew and the King at Windsor Castle to discuss the beleagured royal's finances.
It is unclear whether Mr Hampshire may have information relevant to the present police inquiries, and there is no suggestion of wrongdoing by him.
A trusted member of the Royal Family's inner circle, Dominic Hampshire acted as the 'senior advisor' who brokered the relationship between Andrew and an alleged Chinese 'spy'
Amit Patel
Having worked as an NHS surgeon for five years, Amit Patel pivoted over to business and was with consultancy firm LEK when he was first introduced to Andrew.
He subsequently became a special adviser to the former prince between August 2010 and March 2011.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Patel accompanied the then Duke of York 'in support of his role as UK Special Representative for International Trade and Investment' on more than 300 official engagements in the UK and overseas.
Patel's name appears in the Epstein files, having sent Andrew reports from Whitehall of his recent visits to Singapore, Hong Kong and Vietnam - including confidential details of investment opportunities.
Emails from November 30 2010 show that Andrew passed on the material to Jeffrey Epstein five minutes after receiving them.
There is no suggestion of wrongdoing from Patel, though he may be able to provide police with more details around the email, which forms part of the released documents in the Epstein files.
Patel now runs an insurance company and sits on the board of a charity.
Amit Patel became a special adviser to the former prince between August 2010 and March 2011
Ghislaine Maxwell
Epstein's longtime girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell is serving a 20-year prison sentence in Texas after she was convicted of trafficking young girls to Epstein in 2021. She is the only associate of the billionaire paedophile who has been jailed.
Among those who alleged she was trafficked was Virginia Giuffre, who was pictured with Andrew's arm around her waist when she was a teenager in 2001.
She alleged that she was forced into sexual encounters with him on three separate occasions when she was 17 years old.
Giuffre, who died by suicide last year, was working as a spa locker room attendant at Mar-a-Lago in the summer of 2000 when Maxwell recruited her as a 'traveling masseuse' for Epstein.
Giuffre alleged that she was trafficked globally by Epstein and Maxwell, enduring sexual abuse at his properties and being introduced to high-profile figures.
In 2022, Andrew paid millions to settle a civil sexual assault case with Ms Giuffre despite insisting he had never met her to avoid a humiliating public jury trial that posed a reputational risk to the Royal Family.
Maxwell's family posted on the X account Real Ghislaine on Friday, saying: 'Astonished to see Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor arrested today over alleged misconduct in public office linked to material from the so-called Epstein 'Files'.
'He is entitled to the presumption of innocence and a fair process - which our sister Ghislaine never received.
'We need transparency, evidence, and the same rules for everyone - not trial by media and political expediency.'
It remains to be seen whether Maxwell could assist British police with their investigation, but her long-term friendship with Andrew - which goes back to their university days - means the socialite knows more than most about his relationship with Epstein.
Maxwell's long-term friendship with Andrew means the socialite knows more than most about his relationship with Epstein
David Stern
German business consultant David Stern acted as an intermediary between Jeffrey Epstein and the former Duke of York - with his name appearing 7,461 times in the Epstein Files.
Emails reveal that he referred to himself as a 'soldier', and the child sex offender as his 'general'.
The men appeared to share sexually explicit messages, with Mr Stern known as the 'man in the palace', keeping Epstein up to date with Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor's movements.
The relationship continued following Epstein's release from prison in 2009 after he admitted procuring a girl under the age of 18 for prostitution, the messages indicate, and continued until at least 2017.
Epstein also tried to broker a lucrative deal with an American investment firm that would have netted Andrew a £1million advance, emails between him and Mr Stern appear to show.
According to the emails released by the US Department of Justice, the former prince would have also received a 40 per cent cut of future profits in the link up with Cantor Fitzgerald, with the same amount going to the firm and the remaining 20 per cent to Mr Stern, according to one proposed version.
The plan to use Andrew's connections to introduce 'asset management firms, sovereign wealth funds, institutional investors and high net worth individuals', reported by the Daily Telegraph, was discussed by Epstein and Mr Stern in autumn 2013 – almost three years after the then-Duke of York claimed to have severed ties with the billionaire.
A 2014 birthday message seemingly from Mr Stern to Epstein had a photograph of an unknown young woman having champagne poured on her.
Communications about Andrew included one from 2011, with Mr Stern apparently writing: 'I am going with PA to China on 23 October... I stay in the background/hidden.'
There is no suggestion of any criminal wrongdoing by Mr Stern.
He was appointed in January 2018 to the advisory board of Judge Business School. But he resigned with 'immediate effect' this week after the school was approached by business magazine Private Equity News about his relationship with Epstein.
A JBS spokesman said 'David Stern has resigned from the advisory board of Cambridge Judge Business School with immediate effect', and did not confirm whether it previously knew about the ties between the two men.
German business consultant David Stern acted as an intermediary between Jeffrey Epstein and the former Duke of York - with his name appearing 7,461 times in the Epstein Files
