A Royal Clean Up: Officials Plan to Remove Harry and Andrew From Remaining Constitutional Duties

WINDSOR, ENGLAND - APRIL 17: Prince Charles, Prince of Wales; Prince Edward, Earl of Wesse
Photo by Mark Large-WPA Pool/Getty Images
Nathaniel Charles

Prince Harry and Prince Andrew now face being dismissed as two of the Queen’s Counsellors of State, due to repeated scandal.

Buckingham Palace officials are reportedly considering ways to remove Prince Harry and Prince Andrew from their remaining royal duties, alongside cancelling their Jubilee medals, due to the negative press associated with the duo the Daily Mail reports.

Currently, both Harry and Andrew are Counsellors of State, which means they are technically able to carry out the Queen’s duties such as signing official documents or attending Privy Council meetings (meetings between senior Parliamentarians and the monarchy) if the Queen was conducting business overseas or became ill and the two other Counsellors Prince Charles and Prince William were unavailable.

Speaking to the Daily Mail a royal source said this was an issue the palace was “looking to address” as if Andrew or Charles were to start retaking an active role in royal affairs “it could put the monarchy in jeopardy”.

The Regency Act of 1937 – which is still in effect – presently states that the Counsellors of State are the Monarch’s spouse and the next four people who are over 21 from the line of succession, which currently includes Harry who is 6th in line to the throne and Andrew who is 9th in line. For this to change there will most likely need to be an Act of Parliament to update the requirements for the role.

This news comes in light of Prince Harry demanding that he should be supplied with a police security detail when he visits the United Kingdom – on top of his private security. The Home Office has however declined Prince Harry’s request for officers, even if he paid for them.

Harry’s lawyers have suggested that the police escort is needed because Harry and his family have an “inherited security risk” and have been subjected to “neo-Nazi and extremist threats”. Dai Davies, who was appointed in 1995 as an operational unit commander for royal protection, however, challenged this on Good Morning Britain saying “the threat isn’t there” to justify a police escort, and that if there was a genuine threat Harry would be given an escort, but it isn’t his decision to make “at a drop of a hat”, especially as he had “given up being a royal”.

Davies also highlighted other Royals don’t receive “full-time protection” including Princess Anne who was “nearly kidnapped and/or murdered” in 1974.

Prince Harry has already lost most of his royal titles and duties, as part of his historic settlement agreement with the Queen, when he decided to retire from royal life.

Prince Andrew has also already been stripped of all of his military titles and patronages, and like Harry, he is no longer able to use the “His Royal Highness” title. The news to further remove the Duke of York’s titles and remaining royal duties will come as no surprise while he is embroiled in a sexual assault legal case.

The Duke has been accused by Virginia Giuffre née Roberts of sexually assaulting her at his London flat in 2001 when she was 17. Andrew has however denied the accusation and suggested Giuffre is suffering from “false memories“.

Prince Andrew has not been charged with any criminal charges and will most likely face Giuffre in the US civil courts.

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