Carney says disgraced former prince Andrew should be removed from royal succession line

TOKYO —  Prime Minister Mark Carney says he believes disgraced former prince Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor should be removed from the royal line of succession. 

Carney made the comments on the last day of an international trip to the Indo-Pacific that included a stop in Australia, a fellow Commonwealth country, where Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese recently penned a letter to British Prime Minister Keir Starmer offering his nation’s support to do so. 

Asked whether he believed the former prince should be removed from the succession line, Carney told reporters in Tokyo that “personally, I do, yes.”

“There’s a process to define that process, but I certainly think his actions, which are deplorable and have caused him to be stripped of his royal title certainly merit … necessitate — it’s a better word — his removal from the line of succession, even though he is well down the line of succession, I think the point of principle stands.”

Mountbatten-Windsor was recently arrested on his 66th birthday by U.K. police in relation to an investigation about misconduct in public office. Starmer’s government is exploring legislation that would strip the former prince of his remaining official roles and remove him from the line of succession, according to the U.K. press. 

But it was the former prince’s friendship with notorious sex offender Jeffery Epstein that has led to his downfall and allegations of sexual abuse.

His brother, King Charles III, stripped Mountbatten-Windsor of his royal title as prince and the Duke of York last year.

Carney spoke on Saturday morning local time after the head of Canada’s military was set to meet with her European counterparts to discuss the ongoing war in Iran.

Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Jennie Carignan recently told reporters that Canada would have no role in the United State’s assault against Iran, which it launched last week with Israel, but opened the door to fielding requests from the Gulf States facing strikes from the Iranian regime for “defence and support,” saying, “ this would be the type of military options that we could consider.”

Asked about that possibility, Carney told reporters Canada has not received any such request and does not “necessarily anticipate,” such a request.

As he prepares to return to Canada later in the day, Carney will arrive in Ottawa with his government facing criticism over its shifting position on the conflict.

What began as Carney’s office declaring its support for the U.S. strikes last week later changed to the prime minister and his ministers saying Canada wanted to see the situation de-escalate and for a diplomatic solution to be found as the conflict expanded.

Carney has defended his initial support of the U.S. strikes as necessary to prevent Iran’s regime from obtaining a nuclear weapon after decades of attempts for them to cease their nuclear program failed.

He has explained Canada’s evolving message on Iran as reflective of a volatile situation, suggesting earlier in the week that Canada’s support of initial U.S. action should not be seen as a “blank cheque” and that the strikes themselves appeared to be “inconsistent” with international law.

Carney says the question of whether to follow Australia’s led in instituting a ban on social media for minors under a certain age “merits an open and considered debate in Canada.”

Australia became the first country to ban access to major social media platforms for children under 16, which has led other countries, including Canada, to watch how it unfolds.

“I don’t have a settled view on it,” Carney said. “There are arguments in both directions, and now there’s more and more experience with it, albeit on a relatively short term.”

After repeated failed attempts under former prime minister Justin Trudeau to legislate against online harms, Carney acknowledged that Canada was “lagging.”

Considerations around the potential to include what the prime minister called an “age of majority” would form part of that evaluation.

Carney is set to leave Tokyo after a series of meetings with major Japanese companies, including the automaker Toyota.

National Post

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