{"id":309039,"date":"2026-02-21T02:18:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T02:18:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/309039\/"},"modified":"2026-02-21T02:18:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T02:18:08","slug":"keir-starmer-explores-removing-former-prince-andrew-from-line-of-succession-to-british-throne-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/309039\/","title":{"rendered":"Keir Starmer explores removing former prince Andrew from line of succession to British throne \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

British prime minister Keir Starmer<\/a> is considering introducing legislation to remove Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor<\/a> from the line of succession to the British throne following police investigations into the former prince on suspicion of misconduct in public office.<\/p>\n

The move, confirmed by government officials on Friday, would strip king Charles\u2019s brother of his last official roles after he lost his other titles last October over his relationship with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mountbatten-Windsor remains eighth in line to the throne and, as a result, is a \u201ccounsellor of state\u201d, meaning he could in theory deputise for the king in the event that he was incapacitated.<\/p>\n

Officials had previously indicated it would be too complicated to remove Mountbatten-Windsor from his remaining positions given the remote chance of his being called upon to act.<\/p>\n

Any change would require consultation and agreement with 14 other commonwealth states where the British sovereign remains head of state, including Canada, Australia and New Zealand.<\/p>\n

\"AndrewAndrew Mountbatten-Windsor (centre) leaves Aylsham Police station, Norfolk, on Thursday. Photograph: Phil Noble\/Reuters <\/p>\n

Mountbatten-Windsor on Thursday became the first senior member of the British royal family to be arrested over a suspected crime since king Charles I in 1647. Officers from Thames Valley Police arrested him in an investigation of suspected misconduct in public office.<\/p>\n

The former prince was a special representative for UK trade and investment from 2001 until 2011, when he stepped down amid controversy over his links to Epstein.<\/p>\n

Millions of files published by the US department of justice, relating to the financier and his associates, show Mountbatten-Windsor worked closely with them in a number of fields, regularly sharing information and business ideas.<\/p>\n

The inquiry by Thames Valley Police is one of a series of investigations or assessments being undertaken by UK police forces following revelations from the US department of justice documents.<\/p>\n

The Metropolitan Police on Friday said it was \u201cassessing\u201d information about whether London airports were used for trafficking and sexual exploitation. It is also contacting former and serving close protection officers who might have worked closely with Mountbatten-Windsor, following revelations in the released documents.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Analysis: Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor\u2019s arrest proves the \u2018never explain\u2019 days are over for UK royalsOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

The force made the announcement as Thames Valley Police continued to search the former home of Mountbatten-Windsor in Windsor Great Park; he was arrested at his home in Sandringham, a private estate owned by the king in Norfolk.<\/p>\n

Mountbatten-Windsor has made no statement of any kind since October but has consistently denied any wrongdoing, either sexually or in his business affairs.<\/p>\n

Neither Buckingham Palace nor Mountbatten-Windsor\u2019s office immediately responded to requests for comment on the government\u2019s plans.<\/p>\n

The Metropolitan Police announcement followed similar statements from forces in Bedfordshire, Essex and the West Midlands, as well as Police Scotland, about airports in their jurisdictions.<\/p>\n

The US files contain substantial amounts of information about movements of women via UK airports.<\/p>\n

The Metropolitan Police area covers Heathrow, Europe\u2019s busiest airport, and London City, which is popular with users of private jets such as those that were frequently used by Epstein.<\/p>\n

The Metropolitan Police said of information contained in the Epstein files: \u201cWe are assessing this information and are actively seeking further detail from law enforcement partners, including those in the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thames Valley Police indicated late on Thursday that work would continue at the former Windsor home of Mountbatten-Windsor, while searches at his current home in Sandringham had finished. On Friday, it did not say how long it expected to be present at Royal Lodge or any next steps in the investigation.<\/p>\n

Alongside the misconduct investigation, Thames Valley Police said this month that it was assessing information from a US lawyer representing a woman who claimed that she was trafficked in 2010 to Windsor \u201cfor sexual purposes\u201d.<\/p>\n

Epstein was found dead in a New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on further sex-trafficking charges. \u2013 Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"British prime minister Keir Starmer is considering introducing legislation to remove Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor from the line of succession…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":309040,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,11111,43,11184,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-309039","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-jeffrey-epstein","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-prince-andrew","12":"tag-top-news","13":"tag-top-stories","14":"tag-topnews","15":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=309039"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309039\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/309040"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=309039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=309039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=309039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}