Australia backs removal of ex-Prince Andrew from line of succession

by · UPI

Feb. 23 (UPI) -- Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese wrote his British counterpart Keir Starmer to say his government would support removing the former Prince Andrew from the royal line of succession in the wake of his arrest on suspicion of misconduct in public office.

Albanese, who favors abolishing Australia's constitutional monarchy under which King Charles III is also King of Australia and breaking with Britain to become a republic, said that while Andrew's fall from grace was "extraordinary," he would not seek another referendum on the issue.

"In light of recent events concerning Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, I am writing to confirm that my government would agree to any proposal to remove him from the line of royal succession," Albanese wrote in an extract obtained by The Guardian.

"I agree with His Majesty that the law must now take its full course and there must be a full, fair and proper investigation. These are grave allegations and Australians take them seriously."

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"I must say, from someone who had such an esteemed position and was in a position really of absolute privilege, and to see this decline and fall is extraordinary," he told the Guardian separately.

Starmer's government is understood to be looking at legislation to remove Mountbatten-Windsor from the succession because, although he stepped back from his role as a working member of the royal family in 2022 and was stripped of all his titles and honors in October, he remains eighth in line after Prince William and his children, followed by Prince Harry and his children.

A Downing Street spokesman confirmed Albenese's letter had been received and that the government was "not ruling anything out" in its deliberations over whether further action was needed with regard to Mountbatten-Windsor.

At least two senior government officials have suggested the government was working with Buckingham Palace on plans to stop the former prince from ever becoming king but that they should only be acted on once the police investigation into Andrew over misconduct in public office allegations wraps up.

An act of Parliament would need to be passed in both the House of Commons and the House of Lords to remove Andrew as a counsellor of state, a pool of royals who could potentially replace Charles in the event he dies or is incapacitated.

It would also have to be approved by Canada, Australia and New Zealand and 11 other countries from the Solomon Islands to Belize where King Charles also reigns, only finally coming into force upon gaining royal assent from the King.

Nothing like that has happened in almost a century since Edward VIII triggered a constitutional crisis because of his relationship with U.S. divorcee Wallis Simpson. The crisis was resolved when he voluntarily relinquished the throne in December 1936 and was replaced by his brother George VI, leaving Edward free to marry Simpson.

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Former South African president Nelson Mandela speaks to reporters outside of the White House in Washington on October 21, 1999. Mandela was famously released from prison in South Africa on February 11, 1990. Photo by Joel Rennich/UPI | License Photo