Pressure Grows on King Charles To Remove His Brother Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor From the Line of Succession

The litany of troubles facing the former Duke of York, prince, and Royal Highness, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, appears set to grow with the gathering push to remove him from the line of succession to the throne. Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor currently stands eight in line to accede to the millenium old monarchy.On Monday the prime minister of Australia, Anthony Albanese, expressed to Prime Minister Keir Starmer his support for removing Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor. His Majesty’s government is reportedly considering legislation that would demote Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor following his stunning arrest last week on suspicion of misconduct in public office.Canberra’s support for further punishing Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor matters because the British Crown is sovereign over not only the United Kingdom but also 14 other nations, a realm known as the Commonwealth. When Australia was federated in 1901, Queen Victoria’s dominion over her territories was seen as “one and indivisible.” That control was loosened at a series of Imperial Conferences and by the Statute of Westminster, which declared New Zealand, South Africa, the Irish Free State, and Newfoundland as “autonomous communities within the British empire.” The statute gave the dominions power to alter or repeal British laws that applied in their country. An exception, though, is that “any alteration in the law touching the Succession to the Throne” requires the assent of all 14 dominions and the United Kingdom. Such assent was given in 1936, when King Edward VIII abdicated to marry Wallis Warfield Simpson. The Parliament at London passed a law to alter the rules of succession to exclude from a pathway to the throne any children that he might have. The Australia Act of 1986, though, mandated that no act of the British parliament shall extend as part of the law of the Commonwealth. That means that if Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor is to be excluded, Canberra will have to pass its own law to that effect.The contours of succession were set centuries ago by the Bill of Rights 1689 and the Act of Settlement 1701, which limited succession to the throne to the “legitimate Protestant descendants of Sophia of Hanover” — the mother of George VI and granddaughter of James I — who are in “communion with the Church of England.” Until the 14th century, succession was governed by the ancient common law rule of primogeniture — and was frequently contested. Look no farther than the wars of succession that followed the death of William the Conqueror in 1087 and eventually cleared the way for the House of Normandy to be succeeded by the short lived House of Blois and then the Plantagenets, who reigned for centuries. The allegations against Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor relate to his long relationship with the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, who took his own life in 2010. Documents released as part of the so-called “Epstein Files” disclose communication between the two relating to official matters while Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor served as the United Kingdom’s trade envoy — and as a high-ranking official in the British Army.While Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor has since been released, he could yet be charged. A conviction could amount to a lifetime sentence. His brother, in a letter released after the arrest, vowed to let the “law take its course” and cooperate with investigators. Queen Elizabeth II stripped her son of his royal patronages in 2022, and Charles removed his royal titles in October. Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor has also been expelled from the Royal Lodge at Windsor.Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor leaves St. Giles Cathedral after the arrival of the coffin containing the remains of his mother Queen Elizabeth, at Edinburgh, Scotland, Sept. 12, 2022. AP/Petr David JosekNone of those punitive measures, though — and not even a criminal conviction — are enough to take Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor out of the line of succession and ensure that he can never be anointed king. At this moment he is behind Prince William and his three children and Prince Harry and his two children. The first step to changing that legal position would likely be a law drafted at Westminster, which could then serve as a template to be used and adopted around the realm.One issue to be determined — perhaps at the command or suggestion of Charles himself — would be whether Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor’s children, Princesses Euegenie and Beatrice, would be removed from the succession as well. Under the old dispensation, a royal who married a Catholic was considered ineligible for the throne, but their offspring were not excluded. A similar arrangement could be found for the Mountbatten-Windsors.When Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor was stripped of his princely station he was also deprived of the titles of Earl of Inverness, Baron Killyleagh and the honors of the Order of the Garter and Knight Grand Cross of the Victorian Order. The House of Commons reckons that “the question of titles is primarily a question for His Majesty” because their “legal basis is not an act of Parliament but powers recognised by the courts as being held by the Monarch.”Buckingham Palace announced that “Prince Andrew will now be known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor. His lease on Royal Lodge has, to date, provided him with legal protection to continue in residence. Formal notice has now been served to surrender the lease and he will move to alternative private accommodation.” Mr Mountbatten-Windsor was arrested at his residence at Sandringham, where Kings George V and VI both died. The estate is owned personally by the monarch rather than the Crown. The Crown, though, is likely to think twice before pushing the dominions of the Commonwealth to amend their charters regarding succession. Such an initiative could prove to open a Pandora’s Box, with many of the overseas territories chafing under rule from Buckingham Palace. A bill, supported by the prime minister, emerged in Jamaica last year urging the island nation to “fully decolonize” and cut “the last vestiges of the colonial umbilical cord” with London. Barbados became independent in 2021.The fallout from Epstein’s links to the British elite continued to be felt on Monday with the arrest of the country’s erstwhile ambassador to America, Peter Mandelson. A former leading light of Mr. Starmer’s Labor Party, Mr. Mandelson is accused of the same offense — misconduct in public office — faced by Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor.

Pressure Grows on King Charles To Remove His Brother Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor From the Line of Succession

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