London: A political row is looming over the future of the monarchy after King Charles stripped his younger brother Andrew of his titles and honours, sparking calls for the former prince to be removed from the line of succession.

The calls open the way for debates in every realm – including Australia – about whether Andrew should keep his place as the eighth in line to the throne after the extraordinary moves to strip him of his status.

The former prince is now known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor after the King formally removed him from the official roll of the peerage, where he was listed as the Duke of York.

The changes act on concerns about the conduct and judgment of the former prince over claims he sexually abused a teenager, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, during his long friendship with convicted sex offenders Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.

While the King is using his own powers to demote his brother without needing any action by parliament, the British government is facing calls to go further by passing a law to ensure he cannot be eligible for the throne.

“In the event of an unimaginable family catastrophe, Andrew could inherit the throne,” a Labour MP, Jon Trickett, told The Telegraph in London.

“The British people would not put up with it and this ought to be resolved so that he isn’t in line at all.”

Mountbatten Windsor was for many years the second in line to the throne, but is now eighth after Prince William and his three children, as well as Prince Harry and his two children.

This means he retains a royal rank despite the dramatic moves – not seen in centuries – to cancel the dukedom of a monarch’s brother.

The brother of Roberts Giuffre, Sky Roberts, welcomed the King’s actions but said he would like to see the former prince face charges over the accusations against him.

“It’s not enough,” he told the BBC after the King’s decision about his brother.

“We have to have some sort of investigation that goes further into this. I mean, he’s still walking around a free man.

“I commend the King. I think he’s doing an amazing job as a world leader, setting a precedent, but we need to take it one more step further. He needs to be behind bars.”

The King, joined by Queen Camilla, expressed support for victims of abuse in the statement on Thursday night in London. The statement noted that the former prince rejected the accusations against him.

“These censures are deemed necessary, notwithstanding the fact that he continues to deny the allegations against him,” the statement from Buckingham Palace read.

“Their Majesties wish to make clear that their thoughts and utmost sympathies have been, and will remain with, the victims and survivors of any and all forms of abuse.”

Roberts Giuffre, whose memoir was released last week, asserted in legal depositions over many years that Mountbatten Windsor had abused her when she was 17 and working for Epstein and Maxwell.

Another young woman, Johanna Sjoberg, testified that she saw the then prince with Roberts Giuffre in Maxwell’s home in New York in 2001.

Mountbatten Windsor has repeatedly denied meeting Roberts Giuffre, denied having sex with her and rejected her claims of sexual assault.

In a sign of the looming argument over whether to take further action against the King’s brother, some British MPs privately backed Trickett on the idea of changing the line of succession.

Experts said the change would require matching laws by more than a dozen realms including Australia to ensure the former prince could not be considered an heir to the throne, similar to changes made more than a decade ago to introduce gender equality into the succession.

“That would require legislation, not just by the UK, but by all 14 realms, similar to the legislation to change the line of succession by introducing gender equality,” said Robert Hazell, professor of government and the Constitution at University College London.

Hazell told this masthead the changes on gender equality took several years to accomplish across the parliaments in every realm after then-UK prime minister David Cameron outlined the changes in 2011.

The Australian parliament passed the Succession to the Crown Bill in March 2015. State parliaments approved the same changes.

Given that each realm passes its own law on the matter, any MP in any realm could propose a law on the succession.

British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is pushing back, however, with his office saying there were “no plans” for any change to the law on this question.

“There are no plans to make legislative changes,” a spokesman for Starmer told the media.

“The government is committed to using parliamentary time to improve the lives of working people.”

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