On February 19, the police in the United Kingdom arrested King Charles III's brother Andrew and took him to a station. After being held at the station for several hours, Andrew was released.
This event has been widely covered in the global mass media. On the day of the incident, one of the biggest wishes of journalists was to obtain images of Andrew. However, only "Reuters" agency's photographer Phil Noble succeeded in this.
The photo he took is published worldwide. In that photo, Andrew can be seen cramped and shaken inside the back seat of a car.
Medianews.az reports that this sole shot in the hands of the world media so far is both a matter of chance and the result of journalistic professionalism.
Phil Noble stated that he caught that moment more by misfortune than fortune.
On the morning of February 19, when the news broke about a member of the royal family being arrested, Phil Noble traveled six hours from his home in Manchester to Norfolk — to Sandringham residence where Andrew lives.
Since the operation was carried out by a management overseeing about 20 police stations, it was unknown to which police station Andrew was taken.
Photographer Phil Noble
Based on a piece of information, the photographer headed to the Aylsham police station. Other media representatives were also waiting there. However, hours passed and nothing happened. After waiting six hours in the cold and dusk falling, the photographer decided to head to the hotel thinking that the information was incorrect.
At that very moment, a colleague from "Reuters" called him that Andrew's cars were approaching the police station in Aylsham.
Noble returned and saw two cars quickly leaving the area. There were two police officers in one of the vehicles. The photographer pointed his lens at the rear car and took only six shots.
In two of these, only police officers appeared, two were empty, and one was very blurry. Only one shot (now published in almost all newspapers and news sites worldwide) was successful: Andrew, sitting on the back seat, shaken. Due to the night shoot and strong lighting, the photo also shows a "red-eye effect" in his eyes.
“You can plan and rely on experience, but everything has to come together. In car shoots, this is more a matter of luck,” Noble said.
Recall that 66-year-old Andrew is suspected of abuse of official powers. This case is related to the "Epstein scandal."
Andrew had a close relationship with the American financier Jeffrey Epstein, who was accused of sexual assault and other serious crimes and mysteriously died in custody in 2019.
In January this year, the US Department of Justice released millions of documents, numerous photos, and video materials related to the "Epstein case." The materials raised suspicions that Andrew informed Epstein in advance about his visits to Singapore, Hong Kong, and Vietnam and passed some confidential information about Britain's investment opportunities to Epstein.
According to the charges, Andrew sent official reports to Epstein only minutes after receiving them.
It is also emphasized that his information regarding investment opportunities in Afghanistan was shared with Epstein.
Among the materials are Andrew's correspondences with Epstein and sexually explicit photos.
Andrew's connections with Epstein were known even before the US Department of Justice's January disclosure. This is precisely why he renounced the Duke of York title in October 2025, later lost his prince title, and left his official residence at Windsor Castle.
Toğrul Ali,
Medianews.az