King Charles Urged To Make One Crucial Move to Prevent Another Crisis with Andrew
A royal expert warns that leaving Prince Andrew in the line of succession could expose the monarchy to a scenario it cannot afford.
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor has endured a bruising stretch, first surrendering his dukedom, then losing the birth titles that defined his public identity, and now preparing to leave the place he has called home for decades (Royal Lodge). However, some royal commentators argue that the King shouldn’t consider the job finished. Andrew still sits in the line of succession, and that, they worry, is a vulnerability the monarchy can’t ignore. Daily Mail columnist Andrew Pierce even suggests King Charles may have to take one more sweeping step to prevent a scenario the Palace would find unthinkable, however improbable it may seem.
Pierce says the palace is uneasy after Donald Trump’s decision to release the remaining Jeffrey Epstein files, a move that could reignite allegations the institution is desperate to leave behind. According to Pierce, “there’s huge nervousness within the Royal Family” that more embarrassing details involving Andrew could surface. Mountbatten-Windsor sits behind Prince Harry’s children in the line of succession, but this renewed scrutiny is the cause of worry.
Andrew’s fall from grace has already been steep. Just last month, he was stripped of his prince title along with all remaining military and royal honours after years of controversy tied to Epstein. Yet, despite being cast out of formal duties and public life, his place in the succession remains untouched.“He is still, despite giving up his royal titles, eighth in line to the throne,” Pierce said, as reported by Marie Claire.
And the problem is that the palace cannot preferentially remove somebody from the line of succession. It would require an act of Parliament, followed by approval from all 15 Commonwealth realms where the monarch remains head of state, a marathon which has never been attempted. However, before this, no royal had been stripped of their princely titles before, in recent history. Pierce argues that the current climate may force the conversation.
Talking about the unimaginable, Pierce says, “Just imagine the unimaginable happened and there was an accident involving the King, the Prince of Wales, his family.” In that scenario, the line would shift dramatically. Prince Harry, currently fifth, would become king — with his children following him. Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor would be pulled closer than anyone at Buckingham Palace could stomach. “Unacceptable. Nobody wants it,” Pierce says. Pierce says Charles may need to consider pushing Parliament toward action, as uncomfortable as that it maybe. “They have to seriously consider it,” he says, arguing the stakes are bigger.
Earlier, the BBC reported that the government has no plans to introduce legislation that would formally remove Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor from the line of succession, as the Parliament laws can be amended, and later misused. Robert Hazell, a professor of government and the constitution at University College London, had pointed out that the previous overhaul of succession laws, which, he notes, involved “two years of protracted negotiations,” was only to end male-preference primogeniture. He says the UK government is unlikely to commit that level of time and political capital again, let alone ask the Commonwealth nations to go through it as well.
