Stephen Colbert Celebrates Former Prince Andrew’s Arrest

Stephen Colbert opened The Late Show by celebrating the arrest of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, noting that “finally someone, anyone” was being held accountable for their actions.

“Let’s hear it for British justice,” Colbert said to cheers from the late-night show audience. “Which is better than American justice because it comes with frilly wigs.”

Mountbatten-Windsor, the British royal formerly known as Prince Andrew before being stripped of his titles by his brother King Charles, was arrested on Thursday morning on suspicion of misconduct in public office. The arrest is related to recent revelations in the Epstein files that suggest Mountbatten-Windsor sent trade reports to Jeffrey Epstein in 2010, not to ongoing allegations of sexual misconduct.

“Technically this arrest isn’t about any charges of pedophilia,” Colbert noted. “U.K. authorities busted Andrew for ‘misconduct in public office.’ Which is defined as ‘seriously willful abuse or neglect of the power or responsibilities of the public office held.’ Which is not only not illegal in the United States, it was Trump’s campaign slogan.”

Colbert then recounted how “back here in the colonies” Donald Trump held the inaugural meeting of his Board of Peace. “Which is kind of like the UN except instead of passing binding resolutions, you pass a greasy bag of money to Donald Trump,” Colbert quipped.

He noted that a seat on the board costs $1 billion in cash. “So the board works kind of like a strip club,” Colbert added. “Cash only and Donald Trump will never leave.”

Later in his monologue, Colbert recounted Barack Obama’s recent comments about how aliens are real. When asked about the comments, Trump replied, “I don’t know if they’re real or not.” Before showing a photo of Trump with Epstein, Colbert remarked, “While Trump never talks about meeting aliens, we do know he’s had close encounters with predators.”

Mountbatten-Windsor was stripped of his titles by King Charles III in October following revelations about his relationship with Epstein. Earlier this month, the British monarch forced his brother to vacate his longtime home at Royal Lodge near Windsor Castle.

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The former prince has continually denied any wrongdoing; however, he was mentioned and pictured several times in the 3 million-plus pages of documents released by the U.S. Department of Justice recently. One of the mentions of Mountbatten-Windsor is a photograph of him with a woman who appears to be Virginia Giuffre, who alleged she was forced to have sex with him as a teenager.

Giuffre was one of Epstein’s most prominent accusers and also filed a high-profile sexual-assault lawsuit against Andrew, which was settled in 2022. Giuffre died by suicide last April.

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Her family released a statement following Mountbatten-Windsor’s arrest. “At last, today, our broken hearts have been lifted at the news that no one is above the law, not even royalty,” her siblings said in a statement. “On behalf of our sister, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, we extend our gratitude to the U.K.’s Thames Valley Police for their investigation, and the arrest of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. He was never a prince. For survivors everywhere, Virginia did this for you.”

While other countries are taking the Epstein scandal seriously, the U.S. has been mostly unaffected. The latest tranche of Epstein files released by the Justice Department has sent shockwaves through the international community. Foreign governments, businesses, universities, and cultural institutions are investigating those with ties to the notorious sex criminal. Powerful figures around the world have been forced to step down from influential positions amid revelations that they were a part of Epstein’s network. Meanwhile Trump — a longtime friend of Epstein’s whose name allegedly appears in the files over a million times — and other figures working within or tied to his administration seem to not only hang above the fray, but enjoy the protection of the American justice system.