And just like that, Prince Andrei is no longer a duke.
Queen Elizabeth II's second son has been at odds with the rest of the British royal family since the late Virginia Giuffre, one of the most prominent accusers of pedophile trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, first alleged in the 2010s that she was forced to have sex with the prince when she was a minor.
On Friday, the king appeared to take matters into his own hands. After years of Andrew being relegated to the fringes of royal life, King Charles III officially stripped his 65-year-old brother of his royal duties. In a brief statement, Prince Andrew acknowledged that his dismal reputation had become a distraction to the rest of the monarchy.
“In discussions with the King and my immediate family and family, we have agreed that the ongoing allegations against me are a distraction from the work of His Majesty and the Royal Family,” the prince wrote in his statement. statement released by Buckingham Palace. “As I have said previously, I strongly deny the allegations made against me.”
“With the consent of His Majesty, we feel that I must now go even further. Therefore, I will no longer use either my title or the honors that were bestowed on me,” continued Prince Andrei. “As I have said previously, I strongly deny the allegations made against me.”
Prince Andrew, as the late Queen's son, will retain his title of “prince”, but after speaking with the King he has renounced several other titles, including being Duke of York and the Order of the Garter – two titles that brought him great pride.
He refused military service, ended royal patronage and stopped using the style “His Royal Highness” in 2022 during a civil case brought by Giuffre. The prince settled this claim without admitting guilt.
However, officially revoking the prince's titles will still take some time, as it requires a formal act of parliament.
The family's decision to sever ties with Prince Andrew came days after Giuffre's posthumous memoirs were published. Nobody's girlin which she details at least three occasions in which the prince allegedly raped her.
But Giuffre's troubling allegations weren't the only negative press that plagued the prince. Public interest in it personal finance and the conviction was also a sore point for the family, as was Andrew's decision to get close to the accused Chinese spy.
Oddly enough, Andrei's misdeeds were not serious enough to exclude him from the monarchy's succession plan: he would still remain eighth in line to the throne. He will also remain at his Windsor home, Royal Lodge, where he has a private lease that runs until 2078.
However, he will not attend the royal family's Christmas celebrations at Sandringham this year.
Prince William, who had a frosty relationship with Prince Andrew, consulted his father about the decision to strip his uncle of his titles.
“It’s unlikely that this will bring them closer,” said BBC.
Prince Andrew's children, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, will retain their titles, according to the British network. His ex-wife will no longer be called the Duchess of York, but will simply be Sarah Ferguson.
