MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
For more on this, we've called Bidisha Mamata, a journalist in London who reports on the royals. Good morning. Thanks for joining us.
BIDISHA MAMATA: Hi there.
MARTIN: So you just heard our colleague Lauren Frayer describe just how big of a story this is, the first arrest of a senior royal in nearly 400 years. What's your assessment? How important a moment do you think this is for the royal family?
MAMATA: I think it's incredibly important, and I really heard that phrase your reporter used of the idea of a tipping point. The royal family in the 21st century have always been there in order to be a branch of Britain's soft power, their cultural diplomacy, and also to provide a sort of soap-opera element. But there is absolutely nothing funny about this. The public are shocked and disgusted and disappointed. The royal family themselves have taken a little while to get out ahead of it, and they still haven't managed to do that. You've got a 66-year-old man being pulled out of his house by plainclothes ease (ph) officers from Thames Valley Police on his birthday, and held and questioned for 12 hours and then released without charge while other investigations are ongoing. And everyone's talking about it because he has been trouble for many decades, in part because of his own obfuscations, his lies, his fudges, his dodges. He's come across extremely badly in very high-profile BBC interviews. And there's a real hunger for a sense of closing the story and having some kind of natural justice happen.
MARTIN: What do you think that would mean? I mean, remember, King Charles - I know Lauren had this phrase as well. King Charles said in a statement that "the authorities have our full and wholehearted support and cooperation," end quote. The law must take its course. How do you hear that?
MAMATA: That was such a strong and chilling and clear statement. The king did not even talk about Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor as his own brother or as a member of his family. He spoke about him as if about a totally unrelated third-party criminal who'd been picked up on the street by the police. And all the king's expressions of overt support, fidelity and good faith were for the police, for the investigation, for the law and for due process. He's making it so clear to Andrew, but I think more than anything to the public, that Andrew is out. He's a pariah. The rest of the royal family are getting on with their sense of duty. The one thing that keeps the royal family in the public's good estimation is the idea that they are dutiful, that whatever happens, they'll still go out and do all the stuff they're meant to do, you know, cutting ribbons and shaking hands. And you can't do that if you're the king and you're being heckled by senior journalists in Britain about your errant brother, who's already in the mire. He's already neck deep in trouble. This is only the latest and the most dramatic of those incidents.
MARTIN: To what extent, though, do you think these events weaken the royal family and undermine its public support? Does this depend on what they do next and how they conduct themselves as this case goes forward?
MAMATA: Yes. I think that's exactly it because Britain is a very, very interesting place. There's a huge amount of rebellion and quirkiness and tolerance for eccentricity. And at the same time, we're strangely comfortable with the class system, strangely comfortable with the idea that the royal family apparently don't do anything, suck up a lot of public money and taxes and what have you and yet revolution never does happen. I think what people really want, regardless of what any campaign groups say, is for them to divest themselves of Andrew and all the dark parts of the scandal and then to keep the institution going for all of its entertainment value and glamour and ceremony and pomp and circumstance. It's a very interesting society to be in because the end result for everyone is what I think it'll happen. Andrew is completely out. He's totally unwanted by everyone, and the royal family, as an institution, continues.
MARTIN: Does that mean - what? - he goes to court alone. No one ever shows up to support him. They act like he doesn't exist?
MAMATA: What an imagining, and, in fact, I think that's exactly what's going to happen. It'll be Andrew, who's still a very wealthy, privileged man, maybe with some private security, maybe with some bodyguards, maybe just with his family, but no one else will remain.
MARTIN: That is royal watcher Bidisha Mamata. Thank you so much for joining us and sharing these insights.
MAMATA: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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