Andrew Mountbatten of Windsor, formerly known as Prince Andrew, Duke of York, looks set to be stripped of his last honorary military title as British royals continue to try to distance themselves from the King's younger brother Charles III over his links to recently convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
“We have seen Andrew give up the military positions that he had and we are now looking at the only position he has left, which is the position of honorary vice admiral, and we are in the process of removing that,” Defense Secretary John Healey told Britain. Sky News on Sunday.
In a separate interview on the same topic with affiliate network CBS News. BBC NewsThe head of the Ministry of Defense said that “the king has indicated that we should take this step.”
Mountbatten Windsor is the third child of the late Queen Elizabeth II. He spent decades in public life as a working member of the royal family, but revelations about his historical links to Epstein have turned him into a pariah figure. In 2016, he was named in a civil lawsuit filed by Virginia Giuffrewho claimed Epstein paid her several times for sex with the former prince. Mountbatten Windsor has repeatedly denied the claims, but in 2022 he settled out of court with Giuffre for an undisclosed amount.
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However, the agreement failed to stop criticism of the former prince and subsequent pressure on the royal family as new information continued to emerge about his historical links to Epstein after killer interview 2019 with the BBC Newsnight programme, in which he defended his links to the disgraced financier.
In the years following that interview, until this year, amid revelations of emails between Epstein and the then-prince, the royal family appeared reluctant to intervene, allowing him to step back from public duties and relinquish many of his titles and privileges at will.
However, last week King Charles took a landmark step by announcing that his younger brother would be stripped of his rights prince title and he was ordered to leave his 30-room taxpayer-funded Royal Lodge home in Windsor.
One of the few titles that Andrew Mountbatten Windsor still holds is that of Honorary Vice Admiral of the Royal Navy, which he received on his 55th birthday in 2015. It is unclear how long the process of stripping the title may take, which Defense Secretary Healey confirmed is already underway.
The former prince spent 22 years in the Royal Navy, including serving as a helicopter pilot during the Falklands War and commanding the mine countermeasures ship HMS Cottesmore.
Asked about the ongoing scandal, President Trump told CBS News' Norah O'Donnell in an interview that aired Sunday on “60 Minutes” that “this is a terrible thing that happened” to the royal family.
“This is a tragic situation,” he said. “And, I mean, I feel bad for the family.”
CBS News has contacted the royal family for comment on the pending removal of the former prince's Royal Navy title.
