I’ll admit, I don’t really understand how Andrew Mountbatten Windsor’s titles are actually being “removed” by King Charles. It seems that in a technical sense, the royal titles are not actually being removed per se, and some other process is happening. According to the BBC, Andrew’s titles (prince, duke, earl and baron) are being removed by King Charles “sending Royal warrants to the Lord Chancellor to officially remove them.” Meaning the monarch can just send a letter saying “this guy isn’t a prince anymore” and everyone’s like “sure, whatever, that sounds legit.” Personally, I think the lack of clarity about the process being used to remove titles adds to the sense that all of these people are making it up as they go along. They’ve let daylight in on the magic of monarchy, and it turns out ALL of these titles are made-up and someone can be un-royaled with some paperwork. Funny that. Meanwhile, it doesn’t look like they’ll be able to remove Andrew from the line of succession either. Keir Starmer doesn’t back the effort, but various MPs are trying to make it happen:
Sir Keir Starmer is under mounting pressure from his own MPs to remove Andrew from the royal line of succession amid fears of a possible constitutional crisis. The former prince is currently eighth in line to the throne and only an Act of Parliament could prevent him ever becoming King.
Sir Keir has so far resisted pressure to alter the royal succession, with Downing Street saying there were “no plans” to do so.
Although it is highly unlikely that Andrew could ever ascend the throne, it is not impossible. The three royals directly ahead of him in the line of succession are Prince Harry and his children, who, as a young family in America, are unlikely candidates to serve as a monarch. The other four are the Prince of Wales and his children.
One Labour MP said that in the event of an “unimaginable tragedy” it was still possible that Andrew could become king, which was something the British people “would not put up with”. A Labour minister also said they backed removing Andrew from the succession “in principle”.
While there was a rush of this kind of reporting in the wake of Andrew’s demotion or whatever we’re calling it, I get the sense that Buckingham Palace is telling their loyal stenographers in the press that the whole thing is done now and people need to move on. Meaning, Starmer and the MPs have got their marching orders too – stop hassling the poor king about his degenerate brother! Stop demanding that horrible man be removed from the line of succession! Stop asking questions about the money or the security or anything else!
One more crazy thing – while the palace is clearly trying to change the subject now, they also went to the government to get Andrew removed as honorary Vice Admiral of the Royal Navy, a position I did not know he *still* had. I thought he had to give up all of his military positions back in 2019, following the Emily Maitlis interview?? Well, that was a lie, because he’s still Vice Admiral and he’s been Vice Admiral this whole time and now they’re taking that away too. Looks like the king will take up the government’s time on certain issues but not others.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Avalon Red.
