Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s arrest could end monarchy’s ‘never complain, never explain’ mentality

As Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s reputation was shredded over the past few years, there were multiple attempts to put distance between him and the rest of the monarchy.

He stepped back from royal duties in 2019. Last year, he was stripped of his titles. This month, he was booted out of his 30-room grace-and-favour mansion near London.

None worked, of course. As the son of a queen and the brother of a king, Mountbatten-Windsor has never been far from the British crown (both metaphorically and literally: it might surprise some to learn that even today, he remains eighth in line to the throne).

Analysts had already described the multitude of allegations surrounding the former prince as the biggest scandal in the royal family’s modern history.

Things escalated on Thursday when Mountbatten-Windsor was arrested.

If he goes down, there are suggestions that the entire monarchy could fall with him.

King Charles III is trying to draw a line between himself and his brother.

In a statement released after police turned up at Sandringham Estate, the monarch said “let me state clearly: the law must take its course”.

There was no reference to any family connection to the man who’d just been arrested. He referred to his sibling simply as “Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor”.

“I thought that was very stark,” Afua Hagan, a journalist and royal commentator, told the ABC.

While police questioned Mountbatten-Windsor on Thursday, the king met foreign dignitaries at London’s St James’s Palace, and attended the opening show of London’s fashion week. Nearby, Queen Camilla went to an orchestral concert.

Despite the chaos erupting around them, it was — in front of the cameras at least — business as usual.

“I don’t know if that’s how they [the royal family] get over it. I don’t know if that’s how they survive it,” Hagan said.

“But that’s how they’re trying to go through this at the moment.”

Mountbatten-Windsor has been arrested as part of a police investigation into misconduct in public office.

He has not yet been charged with a criminal offence. To arrest someone in the United Kingdom, police must have reasonable suspicion that a crime has been committed.

Mountbatten-Windsor has faced allegations for years relating to his friendship with the convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and has denied wrongdoing many times.

The investigation that led to his arrest stems from the so-called Epstein files, millions of which were released earlier this month.

The documents sparked claims that Mountbatten-Windsor, who served as a trade commissioner for the UK between 2001 and 2011, may have shared sensitive government information with Epstein during that time.

Royals in uncharted territory

Describing something as “unprecedented” can be a stale phrase.

“It’s for occasions like this,” Hagan told the ABC. “I don’t think we can underestimate how seismic and how significant this is.”

While Princess Anne, the king’s sister, has received multiple speeding fines in her life, Mountbatten-Windsor is the first member of the British royal family to be arrested in almost 400 years.

The last time it happened, in 1649, another Charles — Charles I — was on the throne. He was tried and executed for treason.

The royal family is no stranger to embarrassment and tragedy, of course, but many analysts believe this week’s events could present an existential threat to the monarchy.

Mountbatten-Windsor’s biographer, Andrew Lownie, said on Thursday he thought the king had “grasped the seriousness of the situation”.

“I think the palace is basically saying to the police, ‘get on with it’,” he speculated in a video posted on social media.

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The maximum penalty for people convicted of misconduct in public office offences in the UK is life behind bars. When Charles I reigned, he believed he was above the law, and answerable only to God.

Multiple times during his trial, he argued the court had no authority over him. But things have changed in the centuries since.

Lownie said he believed authorities would pursue Mountbatten-Windsor “without fear or favour”.

“I think the police know there would be a public outcry if they didn’t do their job,” he said.

King Charles III, in his statement, said investigators would have “his full and wholehearted support”.

The king has not been accused of wrongdoing, but there have already been calls for him to face questions about what he knew of his brother’s behaviour.

While the divine right of royals — the kind the first King Charles believed he had — is long gone, critics contend an attitude of impunity has pervaded Britain’s palaces for too long.

It was no secret that Mountbatten-Windsor’s mother, Queen Elizabeth II, abided by the motto “never complain, never explain” during her 70-year reign.

In other words: stay silent and remain untouchable.

But there’s now an overwhelming sense that the second part of that adage is no longer palatable to the public, many of whom want answers from their royals.

Hagan points out that the family has shown an ability to withstand multiple scandals before.

“But if this is the straw that breaks the camel’s back and makes people think that the monarchy no longer serves them, then they are in trouble,” she said.

Mountbatten-Windsor was arrested on his 66th birthday. The life he was born into was bursting with wealth and privilege that most could only dream of.

Whatever happens next, one thing is certain: we’re about to find out just how far one man, and the monarchy, can fall.