A large, mysterious red bruise dominated the right side of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s face Thursday as cameras caught the former royal being chauffeured away from his Sandringham estate in Norfolk, England.
The Sun published photographs showing the disgraced ex-Duke of York appearing visibly upset behind the vehicle’s window, the angry mark encircling his right eye and spreading across the majority of his cheek.
No explanation has been offered for how Mountbatten-Windsor, 66, sustained the striking injury.
The estate in Norfolk serves as the former prince’s current residence — a living arrangement that came about after he was expelled from his previous home near Windsor Castle following scrutiny over his ties to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Sandringham sits roughly 100 miles north of London and has historically been among the British royal family’s most private retreats.
The timing of the photos draws attention given that roughly one month ago, a masked individual charged aggressively toward Mountbatten-Windsor on the grounds near the same eastern England property.
The former royal had been out walking dogs belonging to his late mother, Queen Elizabeth II, at the time of the confrontation.
Authorities subsequently charged Alex Jenkinson, 39, with two counts of using threatening, abusive, or insulting words or behavior with intent to harass or cause alarm and distress.
Mountbatten-Windsor is the third child born to the late Queen Elizabeth II.
His legal and personal troubles have compounded sharply in recent months. Last year, the British royal family stripped him of his remaining titles and honors amid a continuing wave of allegations surrounding his relationship with Epstein.
Virginia Giuffre, one of Epstein’s identified victims, made explosive claims against the former prince in her posthumous memoir “Nobody’s Girl,” published after her death by suicide last year.
Giuffre wrote that Epstein forced her to have sex with Mountbatten-Windsor on three separate occasions, stating that one of those incidents occurred when she was just 17 years old.
Mountbatten-Windsor has consistently and categorically denied every allegation leveled against him.
Despite those denials, British authorities arrested him in February on suspicion of misconduct in public office — a charge directly tied to his documented connections with Epstein.
Under United Kingdom law, a conviction on misconduct in public office carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.
