The blue lights outside the Norfolk farmhouse looked like something from a crime drama, not a royal backdrop. Yet it was there, at a temporary bolthole far from palace balconies and Trooping the Colour, that Prince Andrew was led away by police and held for 11 hours on suspicion of misconduct in public office.
Now the question hanging over Westminster and Buckingham Palace is not just what he might have done, but whether he should remain anywhere near the throne he once confidently orbited.
For all the legal complexity, the core choices are stark.Prince Andrew, eighth in line to succeed his brother King Charles III, could be quietly left where he is. He could be symbolically stripped of remaining roles, while technically still in the queue. Or Parliament could take the nuclear option and legislate to strike him out of the line of succession altogether, with the agreement of the other 14 Commonwealth realms where Charles is head of state.
At the moment, that last option is no longer whispered. It is being openly discussed.
Government sources say officials, as perDaily Star, are drawing up proposals that would allow Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor to be removed from the line of succession once multiple police investigations into his conduct have concluded.
The move would require an Act of Parliament. Britain's uncodified constitution does not allow a monarch, even a determined one, to simply rub out an heir by royal whim. Any law changing the rules of succession must also be agreed by the other realms, from Canada to Australia, which share the Crown.
Sir Ed Davey, leader of the Liberal Democrats, is already preparing the ground.
'The most important thing right now is that the police be allowed to get on with their job, acting without fear or favor,' he said. '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.'
To recall, Andrew, who has already been stripped of his HRH style and military patronages, was arrested last week after thepublication of documents linked to Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted sex offender and financier whose web of connections has haunted the prince for years. He has long denied any misconduct over his relationship with Epstein and has not directly addressed the latest allegations.
Police are continuing to search Royal Lodge, his former home in Windsor Great Park, as part of their inquiries. Images of vans loading items from a royal residence would once have been unthinkable. Now they barely shock.
Source: International Business Times UK
