Keith Adams

This has all come out of media reports in the last two weeks in which former royalty protection officers have suggested, some of them anonymously, that their colleagues might have willfully turned a blind eye to alleged activities on Jeffrey Epstein's island and even in Buckingham Palace.

Now, the Metropolitan Police has said that no new criminal allegations have been made to them about sexual offences in their area.

jurisdiction.

But clearly, they didn't want to leave these allegations in the media unchecked.

So it said it's now contacting former and serving officers who may have protected the King's brother.

It said it was asking them to consider carefully whether anything they saw or heard is relevant to any reviews, for example, of allegations into Andrew or Jeffrey Epstein.

And it was urging anyone with new or relevant information to come forward.

Now, it

It's stressed that it's not seen any evidence of any wrongdoing by any protection officers.

And there is an issue that protection officers need to think about the privacy of the people they're protecting before reporting everything to their superiors.

But the fact that the Met is actively contacting former officers does show that the force does need to see if any of these anonymous allegations are true.

And just on the investigation into Andrew, Thames Valley Police have said that the searches at Royal Lodge in Great Winter Park are likely to continue right through the weekend and may not end now until Monday.

Daniel Sanford.

Now, the former prince is currently eighth in line to the throne, but the UK government has said it's considering legislation that would remove him from that line.

It's a process that would only happen after the police investigation has concluded and has been described as difficult because it needs to be supported by the 14 Commonwealth countries where King Charles is head of state.

Two of the biggest are Australia and Canada.

So how is the crisis being received there?

And has it raised questions about the country's becoming republics?

Emma Cropper is a freelance journalist and reporter based in Sydney.

Australians are watching it very closely because when something major now involves the royal family, questions are raised here in Australia about where the