Prince Andrew’s 66th birthday party took place in a jail cell this year. On February 19, 2026, Prince Andrew was arrested in his home in Sandringham, England for his involvement in the Jeffery Epstein case. This was the first time in 400 years that a member of the royal family was arrested.
When it was confirmed that Prince Andrew had been involved in the Epstein files, it was very shocking to many students at Northern Valley Demarest. A lot of people said that they would never expect the British family to be involved in such a horrible scandal, but at the same time, could believe so. Vera Lee, a 10th grade student said she was shocked by the incident.
“I was shocked when I found out Prince Andrew was arrested. I could never even imagine someone in the royal family doing this,” Lee said.
Even though this case was shocking to many, there were also some students who didn’t question the situation. For example, Danny Scuro, also a 10th grade student, was not surprised by the suspect.
“When I heard, I didn’t find it shocking because there are a lot of famous people on the files which you wouldn’t believe they would be,” Scuro said.
In 2019, Prince Andrew attempted to clear his name publicly, but ended up doing the exact opposite. Once he was placed under investigation and arrested, some people believed that he should have addressed these allegations publicly while others believed the opposite. Sophomore Zach Schneider thinks that it is Prince Andrew’s right not to talk to the public about his arrest.
“I don’t think Prince Andrew has to address allegations publicly because it is his personal business between him and legal figures,” Schneider said.
The royal family had to take action after their family member’s arrest. Many debated whether or not they handled the situation in the correct way.
“The royal family handled the situation appropriately because they brought him out of office and took his role away from the royal family,” Lee said.
Overall, this situation affected the monarchy negatively and may have ruined their reputation.
“This definitely impacted the British Monarchy negatively because it is well known that the Epstein Album is bad news,” Schneider said.
Along with ruining the British monarchy’s reputation, it also affected both Americans and British citizens’ trust for powerful figures. Since there have been so many incidents involving celebrities and people in the royal family, this brings more suspicion to people who are rich and in power.
“This case overall made the public less vulnerable to trust public figures in powerful institutions,” Lee said.
