"Enough is already in the public domain to indicate that police believe that there must be a case to answer to the charge of misconduct in public office. King Charles, who apparently was not warned in advance that his brother was to be arrested, has been scrupulous in his response. The law must take its course, he said, offering prosecutors full and wholehearted support and cooperation."
"Whatever happens now, a line has been crossed in the life of the nation. A once exalted royal, facing serious judicial investigation by authorites acting on behalf of the citizenry. Stripped of status and finery, he faces the spotlight as would any other habitant of these isles. One cannot know the outcome, but just this arrest means things can never be the same."
"Until now the royal family's involvements with the law have been minimal. In her wilder days Princess Anne's dog bit a girl in Windsor Great Park and she was fined 500. She was also fined 400 for speeding in Gloucestershire. Apart from that, researchers into royal quarrels with the law have had to go back to Charles I and Mary, Queen of Scots."
The arrest of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor represents an unprecedented criminal investigation of a senior royal and signals a fundamental change in how the monarchy interacts with the law. Police believe there may be a case to answer for misconduct in public office, and King Charles was not warned in advance and pledged full support for the legal process and prosecutors. The arrest follows weeks of drip-feed from the US Department of Justice's Epstein files and ends a long period of minimal royal legal entanglements. Andrew served as a government trade representative at the palace's request, traveling widely in a role akin to a junior minister amid controversy over his qualifications.
Read at www.theguardian.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]