On Thursday, the British Police arrested and had in their custody the newly (because it was the morning of his birthday) 66 year old Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, a younger brother of King Charles III on suspicion of misconduct in public life; aka his newly public ties to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and reports that the former prince had shared confidential information with Mr. Epstein while serving as a British trade envoy. King Charles III has expressed his “deepest concern” about the case and stressed that “the law must take its course.” Andrew, who spent a decade as UK trade envoy, is the first senior British royal to be arrested in nearly 400 years. The last time was in 1649, when Charles I was executed for treason during the English Civil War.

Just today, Prince Andrew has been released from police custody and was spotted departing the Aylsham Police Station in Aylsham, England, as seen in an image obtained by Reuters. The photo showed Andrew seated in the backseat of a vehicle as he left the police station. Under British law, suspects are often released after questioning but later charged. Mountbatten-Windsor has denied any wrongdoing and said he regrets the friendship; but as of now he has not been charged or exonerated.  

With this, the British government is seriously considering going through with a formal removal of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor from being considered a part of the royal line of succession, as he remains eighth in line to succeed his brother King Charles III. For this to go through, it would need to involve an act from the British Parliament which would mean a lengthy and at times politically uncertain process that interestingly enough, would most likely need to be approved by the British Commonwealth countries like Canada and Australia due to the fact that in those countries the British monarch is the head of state. A poll by YouGov today found 82% of Britons now believe that Mountbatten-Windsor should be removed from the line of succession.

Lead editor for The Lamplight