Then-Prince Andrew, Virginia Giuffre, and Ghislaine Maxwell in 2001. Ms Giuffre repeatedly claimed she was forced to have sex with the then-prince while underage. Photo: Virginia Roberts Giuffre.
Late last night, our time (23 February), Prime Minister Anthony Albanese fired off a letter to his British counterpart, Sir Keir Starmer, about King Charles’s brother, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.
Here’s what the letter said:
“Dear Prime Minister Starmer,
“In light of recent events concerning Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, I am writing to confirm that my government would agree to any proposal to remove him from the line of royal succession.
“I agree with His Majesty that the law must now take its full course and there must be a full, fair and proper investigation.
“These are grave allegations and Australians take them seriously.
“Yours sincerely, Anthony Albanese.”
The grave allegations referred to in the PM’s letter concern suspicions that the former prince committed “misconduct in public office” by sharing confidential information when he was the United Kingdom’s trade envoy between 2001 and 2011.
More specifically, it has been reported that the royal may have leaked state secrets – trade secrets – to Jeffrey Epstein.
Reports on his official trips to China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Vietnam are said to be among the information shared with the notorious child sex trafficker.
It is the first time since 1647 that a member of the Royal Family has been arrested.
Mr Albanese is the first leader of a Commonwealth country to formally offer support for the UK Government’s intention to legislate that Mountbatten-Windsor be stripped of his succession rights in the Royal Family.
While the former prince was released without charge after being arrested last week, he remains under investigation.
Indeed, numerous police forces in the UK are reviewing the accusations made against Mountbatten-Windsor.
It is a good bet that charges will soon follow.
Sharing trade secrets is a huge offence. In the UK, the crime carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.
It is an offence paramount to betraying your own country.
The King himself issued a statement indicating he appreciated the seriousness of the alleged crimes.
“I have learned with the deepest concern the news about Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and suspicion of misconduct in public office,” his statement read.
“What now follows is the full, fair and proper process by which this issue is investigated in the appropriate manner and by the appropriate authorities.
“In this, as I have said before, they have our full and wholehearted support and co-operation.
“Let me state clearly: the law must take its course.”
It is interesting, however, that of all the allegations about Mountbatten-Windsor’s close ties to Epstein, the photos and accusations that he was involved in the highly illegal sex ring, what the authorities arrested him over was for possibly leaking trade secrets.
No arrests over the alleged forced sex on a teenage girl. He has always denied those allegations and any wrongdoing.
Epstein’s victims and their advocates welcomed news of Mountbatten-Windsor’s arrest as a win for them, but they seem cheated even in this victory.
Could it be that “misconduct in public office” – ie, sharing trade secrets – is the only way authorities could “get” Mountbatten-Windsor at all?
Is this the United States’ Al Capone arrest tactic being played out in the UK?
In 1931, Capone was jailed over tax evasion – not for his long list of murders and gangland crimes – because authorities rightly believed that that avenue gave them the best chance of a successful conviction.
Is that what’s happening with regard to the former prince?
Is that how he will be brought to some form of justice over the tawdry Epstein sex crimes?
Or is it really a case that allegations of sharing trade secrets demand faster and stronger legal action – and the public support of other heads of government – than do allegations of forcing a teenager to have sex?
