Australia’s Prime Minister called Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s detention an “extraordinary fall from grace”, but assured the Guardian that this crisis in the British royal family will not lead to a new referendum on whether the country should exchange the monarchy for a republic.
“These are very serious allegations and as they will undoubtedly be the subject of legal action, I am limited in what I can say,” said Anthony Albanese. “But people will be following the details. They appear to be documents [classificados] that were wrongly forwarded to someone who was not authorized to receive them. But, of course, there is also the wider issue relating to Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. Without a doubt, we will wait and see how this all unfolds.”
The brother of Carlos III was detained on Thursday, February 19, on suspicion of misconduct in public office, probably due to his links to Jeffrey Epstein, and was released under investigation at the end of the day, after almost 12 hours of detention.
Albanese, a long-time supporter of Australia becoming a republic and abandoning the British monarchy, said his government did not plan to hold a referendum. “I’m a Republican, but we had a referendum last term,” he told Guardianhighlighting that referenda “are difficult to be approved” in the country.
The 2023 Australian Indigenous Voice referendum was held on October 14 of that year, with voters asked whether they approved an amendment to the Constitution that would recognize Indigenous Australians in the document through the prescription of a body called Aboriginal and Torre Strait Islander Voice. The proposal was defeated in state and national votes.
“I have respect for King Charles, I must say, and Queen Camilla. I have a good relationship with him. He really likes Australia. And his visit here, I must say, was very positive. But that doesn’t change the fact that I think there should be an Australian head of state,” Albanese concluded.
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