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A UK government proposal to remove King Charles III\u2019s brother, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, from the line of succession to the monarchy gained momentum as governments in Australia and New Zealand backed the plan.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese are really serious allegations,\u201d Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in a radio interview on Tuesday. \u201cThis has been quite a fall from grace, but he still remains in the line of succession.\u201d<\/p>\n
Albanese said he sent a letter to his British counterpart Keir Starmer confirming his government would agree to any proposal to remove Mountbatten-Windsor from the line of royal succession. New Zealand also said it would support such a move.<\/p>\n
Starmer is considering introducing legislation to strip Mountbatten-Windsor of any right to accede to the throne once a police investigation into alleged misconduct in public office has concluded. The former prince was arrested last week following revelations contained in emails with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein released by the US Department of Justice. He was later released without charge.<\/p>\n
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\u201cI think that Australians don\u2019t want a bar of this bloke, frankly,\u201d Albanese added. \u201cAnd I think that most people around the world would think that. And that\u2019s why it is appropriate, I believe, that the UK move first to remove him from that line of succession as our head of state.\u201d<\/p>\n
In Australia, to not \u201cwant a bar\u201d of someone is short-hand for not wanting anything to do with them.<\/p>\n
While he was always unlikely to become king, Mountbatten-Windsor is still eighth in line to the throne. Removing him from the line of succession would require primary legislation to be passed by the UK parliament and need agreement from 14 other Commonwealth nations that have the British monarch as their head of state, including Australia, Canada and New Zealand.<\/p>\n
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The DOJ files contained emails indicating that Mountbatten-Windsor had advocated for Epstein on a visit with the late Queen Elizabeth II to the United Arab Emirates in 2010, and that he had shared information acquired in the course of his trade envoy role for the UK government with the disgraced financier and his associates. Andrew has denied wrongdoing in the post that he held from 2001-2011.<\/p>\n
Mountbatten-Windsor previously faced separate allegations regarding sexual offenses connected to his friendship with Epstein, which prompted his mother, the late queen, to strip him of his military titles and patronages in 2022. They included civil action in the US brought by the late Virginia Giuffre, who alleged that she was forced to have sex with the former prince as a teenager. He paid a financial settlement to end the court case, and denied wrongdoing.<\/p>\n
King Charles III stripped Mountbatten-Windsor of his remaining titles \u2014 including \u201cprince\u201d \u2014 late last year.<\/p>\n
\u00a9 2026 Bloomberg<\/p>\n
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