The family of the Virginia Giuffre, one of the most prominent accusers of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor has welcomed news of his arrest in Uk, saying, “He was never a prince.”

Thames Valley Police arrested the former royal on Thursday “on suspicion of misconduct in public office” in relation to his former role as a trade envoy, and he remains in police custody.

While the arrest was not in connection with sexual abuse allegations, the family of Giuffre issued a statement.

“At last, today, our broken hearts have been lifted at the news that no one is above the law, not even royalty,” the statement said.

“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.”

The former prince has come under renewed scrutiny after the latest tranche of released materials from the so-called Epstein files shed further light on his relationship to the late paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

Mr Mountbatten-Windsor has routinely denied any wrongdoing and has not responded to persistent calls to testify in the U.S. about what he knew about the extent of Epstein’s various crimes.

Congress wrote to formally seek an interview with him last November, with the committee on oversight and government reform saying it had identified “financial records containing notations such as ‘massage for Andrew’ that raise serious questions.”

In its letter to Mr Mountbatten-Windsor, the committee cited “well-documented allegations” involving the former prince and accuser Giuffre, and a recently revealed 2011 email exchange in which Mr Mountbatten-Windsor told Epstein, “We are in this together.”

Earlier this week, a lawyer for Giuffre said that Mr Mountbatten-Windsor should be granted “safe passage” to the U.S. to testify about Epstein.

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was later released on bail following his interrogation.