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.
Embed from Getty ImagesThe 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.
