When I was a child we called him "Randy Andy".

Think about that. Gathered around a TV in a 1980s' summer, eating ice creams, Union Jack bunting flapping in the wind, we all watched the "playboy prince" get married. The man's reputation already preceded him.

Today, I woke up to see a photo of that same man, a prince no more, lying down in the back of a car, trying and failing to hide from photographers with a startled look on his 66-year-old face.

Watch: The Mamamia Out Loud hosts on Andrew losing his title. Post continues below.

We're used to seeing royals hiding from paps. Photos through tinted car windows. Maybe there's a new hair do. Maybe a dating rumour.

Not this time. "Randy Andy" was leaving a police station where he had been held for most of a day, in a small 'custody suite', a small, bare room with a toilet, answering questions while police searched his homes. Computers, phones, files, photographs, all of it fair game.

Before yesterday's arrest, we'd had years of glimpses into Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor's lifestyle and the kind of people he chose to spend time with.

There were the sexual assault allegations that he has always strenuously denied and ongoing associations with convicted paedophile and sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. The 'associations' becoming impossible to deny, because with every release of information about the extent of Epstein's depraved web, Andrew's name just keeps coming up. Photographs and emails… It's all terribly inconvenient for a misunderstood royal trying to live out his third act in privileged, luxurious, taxpayer-funded peace.

And now this. The first royal arrested since Charles I, who was beheaded for treason in 1649.

The thing is, if you thought you knew what Andrew was arrested, questioned — and subsequently released — for, you'd be wrong.

Andrew was taken in for questioning on a possible charge of Misconduct In a Public Office. At the time I'm writing this, details are not available, but UK police have previously confirmed they were investigating allegations Andrew passed on sensitive trade documents to Epstein's network during his time as the UK's Special Representative For Trade And Investment.

As the royal reporter Tom Sykes writes: "[Biographer Andrew Lownie] has always insisted that Andrew was more likely to ultimately face retribution for his financial rather than his (alleged) sexual crimes, and it seems that that is exactly what has happened".

And now as attention swings to the Royal Family, despite Andrew consistently denying all allegations against him, the obvious question is: Why has it taken so very long — the first allegations were made by Virginia Giuffre 10 years ago - for them to stop bankrolling him, essentially lift his royal protection, and let the law step in?

When Andrew reached an out of court settlement with Virginia Guiffre for a reported 23 million Australian dollars, he did not admit any wrongdoing in settling what was a civil lawsuit, nor was he accused of criminal wrongdoing. It was the year before the Queen's Platinum Jubilee celebrations, and the toxic cloud hanging over her favourite son was a massive distraction. He needed to find the money and all reports are that the family "lent" it to him. Most of it from the Queen. Some from Prince Phillip's estate, some from Charles' pocket.

They paid for his lifestyle, for his homes, and his travels. And they kept him on the inside of royal family events. Allowed him to keep his title, right up until the time that it became completely untenable.

Listen to our emergency episode on Mamamia Out Loud here. Post continues below.

King Charles today released a statement insisting there will be no special treatment for the man he refers to only as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor and never as his brother. But for decades there absolutely was. And if we are running out of patience for the double standards that apply to privileged men – anonymity, comfort, benefit of the doubt — as opposed to say, victims of Epstein's sex trafficking ring who are routinely named and interrogated, surely our patience with royal family values is at its end.

Prince William is no doubt the most important person in the royal family now. His father may be King, but he was always going to be a caretaker king, and his reign will forever be tainted by his brother. How is William — often saying he is going to modernise the monarchy, make it smaller, more accountable, more useful — going to handle this?

The age of keeping calm and carrying on is well and truly over when the King's brother has been sitting in a holding cell. "Never complain and never explain" is sounding more and more like an excuse for a cover up. So far, William has avoided commentary, and he has not been pushed to give it. Royals have been above interrogation, by the media or the law. Not any more.

There is irony, and perhaps a signpost for where true power lies in 2026, that the only high-profile man so far seeming to be held to account for their Epstein involvement is a Prince, not a tech billionaire, not a President. Once you take a titled man away from his cash flow and his fancy trinkets, he's just a man. Once your indulgent mum is gone and your brother has deemed you too toxic to touch, being Randy Andy is not such a joke.

When Andrew was arrested, he was staying in a five-bedroom farmhouse on the royal estate of Sandringham. And yet he is "cast out" of his family, and of their comfortable circle?

If the royal family are going to hold on to any shred of respect, it's time to be less calm. And start explaining.

Feature image: Getty.