King Charles will be required to seek the approval of 14 countries if he wished to eject Prince Andrew from the line of succession, according to a legal expert.
Last week, the King’s brother announced he would surrender the use of his royal titles amid mounting controversy connected to his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein and links to China.
However, pressure remains on the Royal Family to go further in dealing with the disgraced royal as scandals continue to snowball.
Ideas floated included formally stripping Andrew of his dukedom, which would require an act of Parliament, while others have called for more extreme measure such as taking his princely title and removing him from the line of succession.
Despite giving up the use of his title of Duke of York, Andrew remains a prince as he is the son of the late Queen Elizabeth II.
“In principle, an act of parliament could remove Andrew’s princely and HRH status,” Craig Prescott, lecturer in law at the University of London, explained.
While this would itself be fraught with issues for King Charles, he would face further challenges if he sought to deny his brother the possibility of succeeding him as Sovereign.
Andrew is currently 8th in line to the throne, behind both Prince William, Prince Harry and their children.
King Charles will face several obstacles if he wishes to further strip Prince Andrew of his royal privileges
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Mr Prescott informed that this position is a hereditary one and would remain even if Parliament stripped Andrew of his title as Prince.
If the King wished it, removing Andrew from the line of succession would be possible but it would require an international effort.
“Such a step would also require the approval of the 14 other countries (including Canada, Australia and Papua New Guinea) that share the British monarch as their head of state,” the expert of law told The Conversation.
This would be the case as the monarch maintains ceremonial legal influence over domestic matters in each nation where he is head of state which would naturally require their input on any change to the potential future sovereign.
The King would require the permission of all 14 countries where he serves as head of state to remove Andrew from the line of succession
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Mr Prescott also warned that any Parliamentary proceedings to further strip Andrew of royal privileges would pose some “risks”.
“Once introduced into parliament, the palace loses control over the process,” he advised.
“It would be open to MPs to table any amendments and some may wish to extend the legislation to others, including Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex.
“The palace or indeed the government is unlikely to want to open up such a debate,” the legal scholar thought.
Last week, Prince Andrew said he would give up his royal titlse to ‘put my duty to my family and country first’
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In a Buckingham Palace statement released on Friday, Prince Andrew said: “In discussion with The King, and my immediate and wider family, we have concluded the continued accusations about me distract from the work of His Majesty and the Royal Family.”
“I have decided, as I always have, to put my duty to my family and country first. I stand by my decision five years ago to stand back from public life.
“With His Majesty’s agreement, we feel I must now go a step further.
“I will therefore no longer use my title or the honours which have been conferred upon me. As I have said previously, I vigorously deny the accusations against me,” he concluded.
