11
Calls grow for Andrew to be removed from royal line of succession as police continue search of Royal Lodge – live updates
Calls grow for Mountbatten-Windsor to be removed from royal line of succession following arrest
The arrest of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor has led to calls for him to be removed from the line of succession for the throne.
As second son to the Queen, the former prince Andrew was behind only his brother Charles in line for the throne when he was born in 1960.
However, he has since fallen well down the pecking order to eighth, behind Princess Lilibet, the Duke of Sussex’s daughter. It would take some extremely unlikely circumstances for him to ascend to become King.
But now Mountbatten-Windsor is facing calls for him to be removed from the line of succession altogether.
Andrew Bowie, the shadow Scotland secretary, told GB News:
I think it would be the decent thing. Of course, if he’s found guilty of this, I think Parliament would be well within its rights to act to remove him from the line of succession.
But, let’s remember, he’s not been found guilty of anything just yet – he has yet to be charged with anything. So we have to let the police investigation run its course, and I think we should all act accordingly subsequent to that.
SNP leader Stephen Flynn also backed the move, telling The Sun:
The public will be rightly angry that a man who lied about being mates with Epstein could still be on course to be head of state.
His status in the royal line of succession should be considered, said Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrat leader, without explicitly calling for him to be removed immediately.
Davey said in a statement:
The most important thing right now is that the police be allowed to get on with their job, acting without fear or favour. But clearly this is an issue that parliament is going to have to consider when the time is right, naturally the monarchy will want to make sure he can never become king.
It comes as YouGov published polling today which showed 82% of Britons now believe Mountbatten‑Windsor should be removed from the royal line of succession entirely. Just 6% of respondents said he should remain.
Key events
Current line of succession
As of today, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor is eighth in line for the throne after his great-niece, Princess Lilibet of Sussex, daughter of Prince Harry.
He was stripped of his royal titles last year as a result of his links to Jeffrey Epstein.
Here is the current line of succession:
1. William, Prince of Wales
2. Prince George of Wales (son of William)
3. Princess Charlotte of Wales (daughter of William)
4. Prince Louis of Wales (son of William)
5. Harry, Duke of Sussex
6. Prince Archie of Sussex (son of Harry)
7. Princess Lilibet of Sussex (daughter of Harry)
8. Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor
9. Princess Beatrice (daughter of Mountbatten-Windsor)
10. Sienna Mapelli Mozzi (daughter of Princess Beatrice)
11. Athena Mapelli Mozzi (daughter of Princess Beatrice)
12. Princess Eugenie (daughter of Mountbatten-Windsor)
13. August Brooksbank (son of Princess Eugenie)
14. Ernest Brooksbank (son of Princess Eugenie)
15. Edward, Duke of Edinburgh
16. James Mountbatten-Windsor, Earl of Wessex (son of Edward)
17. Lady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor (daughter of Edward)
18. Anne, Princess Royal
19. Peter Phillips (son of Anne)
20. Savannah Phillips (daughter of Peter Phillips)
21. Isla Phillips (daughter of Peter Phillips)
22. Zara Tindall (daughter of Anne)
23. Mia Tindall (daughter of Zara Tindall)
24. Lena Tindall (daughter of Zara Tindall)
25. Lucas Tindall (son of Zara Tindall)
Andrew should not be in line for throne, says Davey
Peter Walker
Andrew’s status in the royal line of succession should be considered, says Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrat leader, without explicitly calling for him to be removed immediately.
Davey said in a statement: “The most important thing right now is that the police be allowed to get on with their job, acting without fear or favour. But clearly this is an issue that parliament is going to have to consider when the time is right, naturally the monarchy will want to make sure he can never become king.”
Video: How do news photographers capture timeless images?
At 7pm on Thursday, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was snapped in the back of a car by Phil Noble for Reuters, and the photo is now the defining image of the former prince’s arrest. Guardian Australia’s picture editor Carly Earl explains why the ‘viral’ photo of Mountbatten-Windsor is a masterclass in news photography, and why getting this kind of picture is notoriously difficult.
The Manchester-based photographer told Reuters that he travelled six hours to get to Norfolk when news of Mountbatten-Windsor’s arrest broke. After a tipoff, he made his way to Aylsham, about 36 miles from Sandringham, where he waited outside the town’s police station. A few members of the press were there, including two Reuters colleagues.
After six or seven hours of nothing happening, he decided to call it a day and began heading towards a hotel. Minutes later, however, he got a call from his colleague – Mountbatten-Windsor’s car had arrived at the police station.
He rushed back in time to see two vehicles leaving at high speed. He took six quick snaps – two showed police, two were blank and one was out of focus. But one captured Mountbatten-Windsor slumped in the back seat of a Range Rover, his hands loosely clasped and a slightly bewildered look on his face.
“You can plan and use your experience and know roughly what you need to do, but still everything needs to align,” said Noble.
“When you’re doing car shots it’s more luck than judgment.”
Zack Polanski calls for inquiry into public figures alleged to have committed offences
Green party leader Zack Polanski said there should be a full statutory inquiry after the arrest of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.
When asked for his reaction while he was campaigning in Gorton, Greater Manchester, he said: “I think it’s pretty awful. I think there are lots of questions to be asked.
“We really need a full statutory inquiry into public figures from institutions, where crimes have been committed – if they’ve been committed – what we knew, what other people in those institutions knew and, where necessary, to make sure that the appropriate people are removed.”
Polanski said he did not believe the country should have a monarchy.
“The monarchy are doing a pretty good job in themselves of not having their proudest moments over various issues we’ve seen in the last couple of years and, when the public are ready to have that national conversation about the monarchy, I think issues like this certainly don’t help the monarchy’s case.”
The PA news agency has been speaking to people outside Royal Lodge in Windsor where police are continuing their search of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s former residence.
One man, who only gave his name as Rob, said he believed the royal family should have acted sooner when accusations against the former prince first came to light.
He said: “They left it far too long. He’s paid the price. The British law is going to sort it out.
“He’s not been proven guilty of anything at the moment and, until that happens, life will just carry on as it is.”
Australian PM says former prince Andrew has suffered ‘extraordinary fall’ but that won’t prompt another republic referendum
Tom McIlroy
The Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has described Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s arrest as an “extraordinary fall from grace” but says the latest crisis facing the British royal family won’t prompt another referendum on Australia becoming a republic.
In his first comments about the arrest, Albanese told the Guardian’s Australian Politics podcast that Mountbatten-Windsor had lived a life of absolute privilege.
“This appears to be about [classified] documents, and whether they were inappropriately forwarded on to someone who wasn’t eligible<” he said. “But, of course, there’s the bigger issue as well when it comes to Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. No doubt, we will wait and see where this all goes.”
Despite his longstanding support for an Australian republic, Albanese said the government was not planning another referendum.
“I’m a republican but we had a referendum during the last term,” the Labor leader said. “Referendums are hard to pass in Australia.”
Read the full report here:
Timeline of Andrew’s arrest
8am: On the morning of his 66th birthday, Andrew Mounbatten-Windsor is arrested at Wood Farm on the king’s private Sandringham estate in Norfolk.
10.03am: Thames Valley police issues a statement confirming a man in his 60s has been arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office and taken into custody. The force said they were carrying out searches at addresses in Norfolk and Berkshire.
12pm: King Charles issues a statement, saying “the law must take its course” and that the police had the royal family’s “full and wholehearted support and cooperation”.
12.43pm: The PA news agency reports that the Prince and Princess of Wales support the king’s statement.
7pm: Mountbatten-Windsor is pictured in the back of a vehicle leaving Aylsham police station in Norfolk.
7.31pm: Thames Valley police issues an update on its investigation, saying the arrested man has been released under investigation and that searches in Norfolk have concluded. The force added that searches in Berkshire are still under way.
8pm: Pictures emerge on the newswires showing Mountbatten-Windsor returning to Sandringham.
This morning: There have been no further updates from police but several unmarked vehicles and uniformed police officers were seen arriving at Royal Lodge, while security officers remained at the gates to Windsor Great Park, in Berkshire.
For more details on how the day unfolded, read Harriet Sherwood’s report here:
What police have said so far
We know Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was arrested at about 8am yesterday morning at the Sandringham estate, where news agencies photographed unmarked police vehicles arriving at Wood Farm.
Thames Valley police issued a statement shortly after, confirming that a man in his 60s had been arrested and taken into custody and searches were being carried out at addresses in Norfolk and Berkshire.
Police did not name Mountbatten-Windsor personally. Since 2013, the UK College of Policing has said forces should not name those arrested or suspected of a crime, other than in exceptional circumstances.
After arrest, a case is considered “active” under the Contempt of Court Act, a law which is meant to ensure that public statements or articles do not prejudice future legal proceedings.
Thames Valley police issued another statement after Mountbatten-Windsor was seen leaving Aylsham police station last night. It read: “On Thursday we arrested a man in his sixties from Norfolk on suspicion of misconduct in public office. The arrested man has now been released under investigation.
“We can also confirm that our searches in Norfolk have now concluded.”
The force said its searches in Berkshire were still under way, and that it would make no further statement at this time.
Why was Andrew arrested and what happens next?
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was arrested yesterday on suspicion of misconduct in public office, becoming the first royal to have been held in custody in more than 350 years. He has since been released and pictured last night returning to the Sandringham estate in Norfolk.
The arrest appeared related to his conduct as a UK trade envoy, between 2001 and 2011, and followed the disclosure of emails related to Jeffrey Epstein. Among the files released by the US Department of Justice were documents that appeared to show the former prince forwarding sensitive government documents and commercial information to the convicted sex offender. He has consistently denied any wrongdoing.
Police said they have finished searching Mountbatten-Windsor’s home in Sandringham but officers would continue to search Royal Lodge, his former home in Berkshire.
King Charles, who did not know in advance about the arrest, said: “The law must take its course.”
To find out more about why Mountbatten-Windsor was arrested and what happens next, click here:
Epstein estate agrees to $35m settlement in victim claims
The estate of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has agreed to pay up to $35m (£26m) to settle the outstanding legal claims of potentially dozens of victims, according to a court document.
The AFP news agency reported that the settlement is related to victims who said they were “sexually assaulted or abused or trafficked” by Epstein between 1 January 1995, and through 10 August 2019, the date of the disgraced financier’s death in prison, according to the court filing.
Epstein’s estate would pay $35m if there are 40 or more people eligible in the class and $25m (£18.6m) if there are fewer than 40.
