Royal family undoubtedly knew of arrest but threw ex-prince 'to the wolves': expert

A British royal watcher explained the significance of the royal family's reaction to the arrest of the former prince Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.

Police arrested Mountbatten-Windsor, who was stripped of his remaining royal titles last year, on suspicion of misconduct in public office, likely related to his longtime friendship with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and British TV broadcaster Bidisha Mamata told "CNN This Morning" that the ex-prince's family has seemingly cut off all remaining ties to him.

"The phrase throwing someone to the wolves is extremely 'Game of Thrones,' and I do think that there's an aspect of that here," Mamata said. "The royal family is a centuries-old medieval institution, and it will always endure, so when there's a thorn in the side or there's someone who is attracting so much disapproval and outrage police interest, the last thing that the royal family or any royal family in the world wants is police interest at all. They would regard themselves as being completely impermeable as really being above that, and so I have absolutely no doubt whatsoever that the British royal family will create in Andrew a total outcast, a pariah, someone who is not welcome publicly or privately."

His ex-wife Sarah Ferguson, who is also unpopular with the British public, has also come under fire for her friendship with Epstein, and investigative files released by the U.S. Department of Justice showed her arranging a lunch meeting that included her two daughters.

"It's really such a terrible indictment, and it shows her own desperation to somehow be in, in with this network of people of poor character," Mamata said. "I can only imagine how the two princesses, Beatrice and Eugenie, feel because now both their parents are implicated. One of the parents, Andrew, of course implicated so severely that it is really very alien to speak of the royal family in terms of Thames Valley police, plainclothes police officers, unmarked police cars."

"This is how you treat a common criminal, and the fact that this is all happening in public, I am sure that the rest of the royal family knew this arrest was going to happen today," Mamata added, "and are sending a public statement saying, we condemn this, we're okay with this one individual figure being publicized in this manner – and on his birthday, as well."

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