Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor has handed over his firearms licence at the request of London's Metropolitan Police, adding a new wrinkle to the former prince's already turbulent public life. Firearms licensing officers visited Andrew's residence at Royal Lodge in Windsor on Nov. 19 "to request that a man in his 60s voluntarily surrender his firearms and shotgun certificate," the Met said in a statement. Mountbatten-Windsor, Queen Elizabeth II's third child, is 65. The force confirmed the certificate was given up but did not explain why it had requested the move, the BBC reports.
Under UK rules, surrendering a licence does not automatically mean a person loses access to their weapons, but without one, a person can only use or transport their firearms under supervision. The surrender of gun licenses can be requested if the holder is found to be "not fit to be entrusted with a firearm" or "a danger to public safety or to the peace," the Telegraph reports. The ex-prince, a keen hunter, is expected to leave Royal Lodge and relocate early next year to an undisclosed property on the 31-square-mile Sandringham estate in Norfolk, which is privately owned by his brother, King Charles III. Buckingham Palace has previously said the move would happen "as soon as possible and practical."
The development comes as Mountbatten-Windsor's long-running ties to Jeffrey Epstein are once again in the spotlight. A recently released photograph from the US government's Epstein files showed him lying across the laps of several women. In a newly released email, somebody who called himself "A" and said he was writing from a royal residence asked Ghislaine Maxwell if she had "found me some new inappropriate friends."
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