Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor arrest: how the ‘most shocking’ day unfolded

First arrest of a senior member of royal family in modern history came on morning of former prince's 66th birthday

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It was shortly after 8am on Thursday when a small fleet of unmarked police cars drew up at Wood Farm on the king's private Sandringham estate in Norfolk.

Plainclothes officers stepped out into the late winter drizzle and readied themselves for a historic act that the royal family might have been expecting and dreading for weeks.