Summary
Police say King Charles’s brother is in custody and officers are carrying out searches at addresses in Berkshire and Norfolk - read the police statement in full
Summary
Police say King Charles’s brother is in custody and officers are carrying out searches at addresses in Berkshire and Norfolk - read the police statement in full
The late queen’s protection of him was a blemish on her record. I’m happy the king has cut him loose to face consequences… I wonder if they asked him before the arrest…
They didn’t.
“The Press Association is reporting that neither King Charles nor Buckingham Palace was informed in advance of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s arrest.”
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/live/2026/feb/19/police-arrest-former-prince-andrew-mountbatten-windsor-sandringham-latest-updates
That’s an interesting development then. Nothing stopping the king from issuing a pardon
I mean…
I have to assume thr relatively precarious position the royals have is stopping him
It’s the continual back and forth they’ve had for the last several centuries.
They don’t want to lose more power or come off as weak, but they also don’t want to wield too much power and be removed.
Yeah. I think throwing his brother under the bus would probably earn the king a whole lot of goodwill with the public, whereas pardoning him would outrage people.
Though not much came of Jimmy Saville, but Andrew’s not dead
Charles also said something like “the law must take its course” in reaction to the news, so I think he might just let it play out
(source)
Not saying Charles will do an about face like Biden, nor will I say that he’s not just throwing Andrew under the bus to avoid additional fallout, but let’s see what he does if/when Andrew faces real consequences.
Yeah, sucks that Biden had to do that. But he clearly saw how trump was going to weaponise the doj. They were already reneging on the plea deal that Biden jr had made.
Uh, yeah there is. It needs to be recommended by ministers.
The charge is sharing goverment documents. The penalty is a fine.
Where are you hearing that? The charge is misconduct in public office, and while the initial arrest for it has been made based on sharing documents, the penalty itself can have a maximum of life in prison. Life in prison won’t happen, but given they’ve now searched 4 properties, I don’t think he’s getting away with just a fine either.
He can’t do that.
No the King has that power. It is exercised today under the guidance of other officials, but the King can still use the power without reccomendation.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_prerogative_of_mercy
It is crazy how much power the UK monarchs still have. They choose not to exercise it often, but the option remains.
So I dove into the law a bit more and the King must follow the ministers reccomendation when asked to pardon, but there is no indication that the King is limited on his ability to use this mechanism.
However parliment can then check it if they so choose.
Feel free to correct me though, it’s complicated text and I may be mistaken
The convention is that the royal family don’t use these powers unilaterally. There’s an unspoken agreement here that they get to keep their palaces and fancy lifestyle on the understanding that they keep out of politics and legal issues so while Charlie could in theory do something like this, he also knows that if he did, it would pretty much signal the end of the monarchy in the UK.
Conventions. That’s what kept the US somewhat sane, until it didn’t. How is that going again?
Yes, looking at the reaction to the Epstein fallout around the world, the US is an outlier.
We remember the whole Brexit fiasco and well Boris Johnson in general.
No democracy should rely on good faith in its legal code
Almost certainly; Andrew lives on Charles’ private estate.
And what a record it was! Empire’s torture, internment and state killings, racist borders and racist policing, catastrophic wars sold on certainty they didn’t have, colonialism and ethnic cleansing and genocides, a little bit of family racism drama as a cherry on top, and a strong propaganda machine to sell her as a sweet old woman without much power and to ensure people still defend her and worship her.
Her record was too tarnished to blemish.