That longstanding arrangement has come under rare stress in the last week, following scandalous new disclosures about Prince Andrew, the king’s younger brother, and his ties to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The details were outlined in a newly published email between Andrew and Mr. Epstein, and in a memoir by Virginia Roberts Giuffre, an Epstein victim who accused Andrew of raping her when she was a teenager — an accusation he denies. They have led to calls for him to be stripped of his most familiar title, prince. This would likely require an act of parliament.

That, in turn, has set off a chicken-and-egg debate. The government says the decision of whether to deprive Andrew of his titles is one for the king, not for Mr. Starmer. Officials at Buckingham Palace say it would be improper for the king to take any position on a parliamentary act that might come before him for royal assent.

Both sides are drawing on centuries of convention, a powerful argument in a country with an unwritten constitution. Yet as the outcry grows over Andrew’s alleged misconduct during his friendship with Mr. Epstein, falling back on century-old laws and even more ancient customs is proving contentious.

“The argument that this is purely a matter for the royal family will not wash,” said Vernon Bogdanor, an expert on the constitutional monarchy at King’s College London. “Our monarchy since 1689 has been a parliamentary one. It exists only so long as Parliament, representing the people, want it to continue.”

On Wednesday, a Labour member of Parliament, Rachael Maskell, introduced a bill that would give the king the authority to rescind royal titles on his own initiative, following a recommendation from a parliamentary committee. Without the government’s support, however, it has little chance to pass.

Mr. Bogdanor said there were multiple hurdles to the government getting involved, not least that Andrew, 65, has not been convicted of a crime. He has steadfastly denied the accusations made by Ms. Giuffre, who died by suicide in Australia in April. In 2022, Andrew settled a sexual abuse lawsuit brought by Ms. Giuffre without acknowledging wrongdoing.

Last Friday, Andrew announced that he would stop using one of his titles, the Duke of York, a step he took under pressure from his brother Charles. But he did not formally lose either the dukedom or the title of prince, to which he is entitled under a 1917 royal prerogative, known as a Letters Patent.

Under that decree, issued by King George V, the title of prince or princess is limited to the child of a monarch, the child of the sons of a monarch, and the eldest living son of the eldest son of the Prince of Wales, the heir to the throne.

Amending the Letters Patent to strip Andrew of his title is possible, experts have said, but it would be such a grave, unusual step that it would probably happen only if the king and the government agreed in advance.

The last time that a prince was deprived of his British titles was in 1917, when Prince Ernest Augustus, the head of the House of Hanover in Germany and the Duke of Cumberland and Teviotdale in Britain, was downgraded after swearing allegiance to an enemy, Germany, during World War I.

Beyond the legal hurdles, experts said there were political risks for the government in acting against a royal, even a disgraced one.

“The temptation will be there for some,” said Robert Ford, a professor of politics at the University of Manchester. “But any government would be worried about the precedent this would set in terms of politicizing the monarchy — particularly an instinctive institutional conservative like Starmer.”

That would be even truer if Charles opposed the effort to demote Andrew from being a prince. Professor Ford noted that the government does not want to alienate the monarchy at any time, but especially when it has deployed the “soft power” of the royal family to deepen ties with President Trump.

The government has left the job of punishing Andrew to his family. In 2019, after he gave a calamitous interview to the BBC about ties to Mr. Epstein, he was forced to withdraw from official duties. In 2022, after Ms. Giuffre sued him, he relinquished his honorary military titles, and agreed to stop using the honorific His Royal Highness.

Yet the accusations keep coming. On Sunday, the Metropolitan Police said they were investigating reports that Andrew tried to dig up damaging information on Ms. Giuffre in 2011 through a police contact. Andrew did not respond, but Buckingham Palace said the reports should be investigated.

On Tuesday, the BBC and other news organizations reported details of a tenancy agreement that allows Andrew to live in the Royal Lodge, a stately house on the Windsor estate. In lieu of an annual rent, he paid a large sum upfront — around 8 million pounds, or $10.7 million, the BBC said — to renovate the 30-room residence. That kicked up a fresh storm of protest from critics who said the state was subsidizing Andrew’s baronial lifestyle.

The drumbeat of bad publicity comes against the backdrop of Ms. Giuffre’s book, “Nobody’s Girl,” which paints a tragic portrait of a young woman trafficked by Mr. Epstein to many men, including Andrew (Mr. Epstein died by suicide in prison in 2019).

Given the complexities of parliamentary action against Andrew, Professor Bogdanor suggested a simpler form of redemption.

“Andrew should spend the rest of his life doing good works,” he said, noting that Britain had a tradition of disgraced political figures — most famously John Profumo, a Conservative minister forced to resign in 1963 after a sex-and-espionage scandal — who clawed back some respectability by doing good.

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Four days after the 96-year-old queen died at Balmoral Castle in the Scottish Highlands, a military bagpiper played as her oak coffin, draped in the red-and-yellow Royal Standard of Scotland, was borne from the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh in a solemn procession.

King Charles III, dressed in army uniform, and his siblings Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward walked behind as the hearse traveled to St. Giles’ Cathedral, flanked by a bearer party of the Royal Regiment of Scotland and a detachment of the Royal Company of Archers, the king’s ceremonial bodyguard in Scotland.

Inside the church, the coffin was placed on a wooden stand and topped with the golden Crown of Scotland, encrusted with 22 gems and 20 precious stones along with freshwater pearls from Scotland’s rivers.

“And so we gather, to bid Scotland’s farewell to our late monarch, whose life of service to the nation and the world we celebrate. And whose love for Scotland was legendary,” said the Rev. Calum MacLeod.

Because the queen died at her summer home of Balmoral, Scotland has been the focus of the world’s attention for the first part of Britain’s 10 days of national mourning. Large crowds have lined the route as her coffin journeyed from the castle to Edinburgh, underscoring the deep bond between the queen and Scotland. That bond persisted even as relations soured between the Conservative U.K. government in London and the pro-independence Scottish administration in Edinburgh.

Church of Scotland Moderator Iain Greenshields said “most of us cannot recall a time when she was not our monarch.”

“Committed to the role she assumed in 1952 upon the death of her beloved father, she has been a constant in all of our lives for over 70 years,” he said. “She was determined to see her work as a form of service to others.”

The coffin will remain at the cathedral until Tuesday so the public can pay their respects. Thousands of people lined the 0.7-mile (1 kilometer) route between palace and cathedral, some arriving hours early to catch a glimpse.

“I just wanted to be here, just to show … last respects. I cannot believe she is dead,” said Marilyn Mclear, a 70-year-old retired teacher. “I know she was 96, but I just cannot believe the queen’s dead.”

One man shouted at the passing hearse, while others called out: “God save the king!” But the procession was greeted mostly with a respectful silence under a blue sky flecked with clouds.

Charles and his siblings later stood in silent vigil at the church, lowering their heads as they stood at four sides of their mother’s oak coffin alongside members of the Royal Company of Archers. As they performed the traditional vigil, members of the public filed past.

Charles, Anne and Edward all wore military uniforms, but Andrew did not. The Royal Navy veteran was stripped of his honorary military titles and was removed as a working royal over his friendship with the notorious U.S. sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Charles later donned a kilt as he visited the Scottish parliament, where he was greeted by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.

“The queen, like so many generations of our family before her, found in the hills of this land and in the hearts of its people a haven and a home,” Charles told Scottish lawmakers.

Earlier, the queen’s grandson, Prince Harry, hailed her as a “guiding compass” and praised her “unwavering grace and dignity.”

The government, meanwhile, announced the nation will observe a minute of silence on Sunday, the evening before the queen’s funeral. The “moment of reflection” will take place at 8 p.m. (1900 GMT, 3 p.m. EDT).

Before flying to Scotland, Charles received condolences at Parliament on Monday and told lawmakers he would follow his late mother’s example of “selfless duty.”

Hundreds of lawmakers crowded into the 1,000-year-old Westminster Hall for the service, rich in pageantry, in which Parliament offered its condolences to the king. A trumpet fanfare greeted him and Camilla, the Queen Consort.

Charles told the House of Commons and the House of Lords that he would follow his late mother in upholding “the precious principles of constitutional governance” that underpin the U.K.’s political system.

“As I stand before you today, I cannot help but feel the weight of history, which surrounds us and which reminds us of the vital parliamentary traditions to which members of both Houses dedicate yourselves, with such personal commitment, for the betterment of us all,” Charles said.

The ceremony was held in Westminster Hall because monarchs are not allowed inside the House of Commons since King Charles I tried to enter and arrest lawmakers. That confrontation led to a civil war which ended with the king being beheaded in 1649.

In a personal tribute to his grandmother, Prince Harry said he cherished their times together “from my earliest childhood memories with you, to meeting you for the first time as my Commander-in-Chief, to the first moment you met my darling wife and hugged your beloved great-grandchildren.”

Amid acrimony in the House of Windsor, Harry quit as a senior royal and moved to the U.S. two years ago. On Saturday, there was a possible sign of a reconciliation as Harry and his wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, joined his brother Prince William and sister-in-law Catherine, the Princess of Wales, in meeting mourners outside Windsor Castle.

Harry’s statement alluded to the death of his grandfather, Prince Philip, last year: “We too smile, knowing that you and grandpa are reunited now and both together in peace.”

The queen’s coffin will be flown Tuesday to London, where it will lie in state at the Houses of Parliament from Wednesday afternoon until the morning of her funeral on Sept. 19. U.S. President Joe Biden is among the world leaders and dignitaries planning to attend the service at Westminster Abbey.

Authorities already have issued rules for people wanting to pay their respects in London.

Vanessa Nathakumaran showed up more than two days early to stake out a place. “I really, really want to be part of it,” she said.

Judging by the size of the crowd in Edinburgh, the line behind Nathakumaran will be long.

Rosamund Allen, 67, came to Edinburgh from Rothbury in northern England to be part of history.

“It was very moving. It was very quiet,” she said. “I felt very sorry for the family itself to be on show. They are very brave to do that. And I really hope and pray that they get something out of today and have a chance to mourn themselves.

“They were very kind to allow us to be part of their sadness.”

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Corder and Lawless reported from London

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