Rory, protester arrested for shouting at Prince Andrew (Image: Twitter/@janderson_news)
Rory, protester arrested for shouting at Prince Andrew (Image: Twitter/@janderson_news)

It appears the mass media is not the only place those crying afoul of royal reverence are being discouraged. A 22-year-old Scottish man — weirdly enough wearing a Melbourne City FC football top — was arrested yesterday for shouting that Prince Andrew was a “sick old man” as the procession for Queen Elizabeth II passed through Edinburgh.

Two others — a woman in Edinburgh with a “Fuck Imperialism. Abolish the Monarchy” sign and an academic who shouted “Who elected him?” at Charles’ proclamation in Oxford — have also been arrested. Plus photos have emerged of a woman with a “Not my king” sign outside the House of Commons being led away by cops.

We’ve noted previously that for a country that views itself as packed to the rafters with irreverent larrikins, Australia sure does have a lot of laws prohibiting the use of colourful language at figures of authority (oh hey, guess who that disproportionately affects?).

So what law was being broken in the UK?

While many nations around the world have what’s called lèse-majesté laws — French for “to do wrong to majesty” — as it turns out, the UK is not one.

A law making it illegal to call for the abolition of the monarchy in the UK is still on the books, but we’re assured it’s not enforced any more. In Scotland, a lèse-majesté law was struck off in 2010 (apparently having not attracted a conviction since 1715).

Separately, a monarch can’t have civil or criminal proceedings taken against them. (How far is Andrew down the line of succession again?)

According to police, the Scottish man, identified as Rory, was “arrested in connection with a breach of the peace”. The woman being moved away from the House of Commons was simply making way “to facilitate vehicle access and egress through the gates” and was not arrested.

Much like the fact that police in Australia have total discretion about who they charge with bad language offences — and by staggering coincidence disproportionately decide to charge young Indigenous people — it seems basic “disturbing the peace” laws might be more likely to be enforced in the next few weeks.