Aristocrats no longer enjoy privileges.
The Duke of Norfolk, who hosted Queen Elizabeth II's funeral on September 19, unsuccessfully tried to avoid a license suspension on Monday, arguing he needed his car to prepare for the coronation of King Charles III.
Edward Fitzalan-Howard was sentenced to six months in solitary confinement by Lavender Hill Magistrates' Court in London for using his mobile phone and running a red light while driving on April 7.
The Duke of Norfolk, the highest placed in England who also holds the title of Earl Marshal, had already had two speeding tickets in 2019, hence the severity of the sanction.
Yet the 65-year-old Duke's lawyer had asked the judge at the hearing not to enforce the ban because of her role in the new king's coronation ceremony, which is due to take place next year.
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“It is an extremely special situation, where his grace, the Duke of Norfolk (…) is now the person who is responsible for the coronation” of King Charles III, she pleaded.
The Duke of Norfolk is indeed responsible for organizing state and royal funerals, as well as the coronations of monarchs at Westminster Abbey.
Recognizing "a unique case because of the role of the defendant in society", Judge Judith Way, however, considered that the inconvenience caused would not be "exceptional".
The Duke's lawyer had also asked, to no avail, that the details of the argument remain private due to potential national security concerns: "Given that this is such a strange situation, and that his pardon has such a special and important role in this national coronation of a new king, I will ask the Court to sit behind closed doors”.
Edward Fitzalan-Howard was responsible for organizing the funeral of Elizabeth II for which 2,000 people, including foreign heads of state and members of royal families, gathered at Westminster Abbey in London on September 19 .
The Duke of Norfolk had spent twenty years organizing this ceremony.
Across the Channel, the news should appeal to anti-monarchy who regularly accuse the British royal family of wasting taxpayers' money.