Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor's arrest in Sandringham shows royal lineage doesn't protect against wrongdoing. Photo / Getty Images
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor's arrest in Sandringham shows royal lineage doesn't protect against wrongdoing. Photo / Getty Images
Historically, the arrest or imprisonment of a member of the royal family would have involved battles for the throne of England or the treacherous intrigues of courtly life.
The arrest of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor in Sandringham may be less bloody than previous eras – involving fewer swords – but it doesprove that, as in the past, a royal lineage does not protect against perceived wrongdoing.
The last King to be arrested was Charles I, who was tried in Westminster Hall in January 1649 after the royalists lost the Civil War.
Despite disputing the court’s authority, Charles was convicted of treason and tyranny. He was beheaded on January 30 that year outside the Banqueting House in Whitehall, central London.
Charles I on his way to be executed outside the Banqueting House in Whitehall in 1649. Photo / Getty Images
It brought to an end the age when the threat of execution was never too far away for royalty. From the Stuart and Tudor eras, when Lady Jane Grey, Anne Boleyn, Mary Queen of Scots and Catherine Howard were also arrested and put to death on charges of treason, royalty remained above the law until the Princess Royal was caught going 23 miles/h (37km/h) above the speed limit in 2001.
The next year, she became the first member of the current royal family to be convicted of a criminal offence when she pleaded guilty to a charge under the Dangerous Dogs Act.
The Princess was given a £500 ($1129 today) fine and a criminal record in November 2002 after her English bull terrier, called Dotty, bit two children while walking in Windsor Great Park. She was also ordered to pay £250 in compensation and £148 in costs at a magistrates’ court in Slough.
Although 3-year-old Dotty was granted a stay of execution, a contingent destruction order was placed on the dog, meaning it would receive an automatic death sentence if it attacked again.
Zara Tindall, Princess Anne's daughter, received a "totting up" ban in 2020. Photo / Getty Images
The only other modern royal brush with the law came in January 2020, when Zara Tindall was handed a driving ban after speeding through the Cotswolds in her Land Rover.
Princess Anne’s daughter received a “totting up” ban, as she already had nine points on her licence. The additional four points were added for travelling at 91 miles/h on the A417 in Gloucestershire, which has a 70 miles/h limit, in November 2019.
Tindall was also fined £666 plus costs and a victim surcharge of £151.
When Prince Philip was involved in a crash that left two women in hospital with minor injuries in January 2019, he agreed to surrender his driving licence but faced no further action.
Prince Philip (right) was involved in a crash that left two women in hospital with minor injuries in January 2019. Photo / Getty Images
Once the royal family was clear of the threat of a vengeful King or Parliament, all they had to worry about was scandal – not uncommon during the Georgian or Victorian eras.
In 1769, Lord Grosvenor sued the Duke of Cumberland, King George III’s brother, for damages after his butler caught the Duke allegedly in flagrante with his wife, Lady Henrietta Grosvenor.
The secret rendezvous at a St Albans hotel caused a national scandal when the lovers’ correspondence was published in the press as part of the trial reports. A jury awarded Lord Grosvenor £10,000 for damage to his marital property.
In 1806, Caroline of Brunswick was accused of having a child out of wedlock and barred from the coronation of her husband, George IV.
After ascending to the throne in 1820, the King, who was already illegally married to Maria Fitzherbert, sought to divorce Caroline, from whom he was estranged.
The so-called Delicate Investigation uncovered no evidence for the rumours, but caused rifts in the royal family that led to Caroline – then Princess of Wales – being barred from her husband’s coronation in 1821. She died three weeks later.
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