Britain’s Prince Andrew has stopped using his remaining titles and honours, including the Duke of York, in the wake of the Epstein scandal, he has announced.
The latest development in the long-running controversy comes just days before the publication of a memoir by Andrew’s late alleged victim, Virginia Giuffre, to whom he paid millions to settle a civil sexual assault case.
In a statement released by Buckingham Palace, the prince said that in discussion with King Charles and his immediate and wider family, they decided “the continued accusations about me distract from the work of His Majesty and the royal family”.
Both the king and the Prince of Wales were consulted, with Charles said to be glad of the outcome amid hopes the decision will draw a line under a debacle, with Andrew’s banishment from royal life appearing complete.
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Andrew will, however, remain a prince, which he has been entitled to since birth, and the change will not affect his daughters who will remain Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie.
Sarah, Duchess of York, who split from the duke more than 30 years ago but remained one of his greatest supporters and still shares his Royal Lodge home, will revert to her maiden name Sarah Ferguson.
The prince added: “I have decided, as I always have, to put my duty to my family and country first. I stand by my decision five years ago to stand back from public life.
“With His Majesty’s agreement, we feel I must now go a step further. I will therefore no longer use my title or the honours which have been conferred upon me. As I have said previously, I vigorously deny the accusations against me.”
The king’s brother will retain the dukedom, which can only be removed by an act of parliament, but will not use the title.
He will also give up his knighthood as a Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order and his Garter role as a Royal Knight Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter. The honours will both remain in existence but will not be used.
He will no longer use the other titles given to him on his wedding day – the Earl of Inverness and Baron Killyleagh.
Andrew stepped down from public life six years ago in 2019 after his disastrous Newsnight interview in which he said he “did not regret” his friendship with paedophile billionaire Jeffrey Epstein, who had trafficked Ms Giuffre.
He was heavily criticised for failing to show sympathy with the sex offender’s victims.
The duke, reputedly Queen Elizabeth II’s favourite child, announced at the time he would be “stepping back from public duties for the foreseeable future” and disappeared from a string of high-profile national events involving the monarchy.
He later paid millions to settle a civil sexual assault case with Ms Giuffre, a woman he claimed never to have met.
Ms Giuffre, who died at the age of 41 in April, was a central figure in the downfall of Epstein, who was found dead in his cell at a federal jail in Manhattan, New York, in August 2019 while he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges.
She alleged she was forced to have sex with Andrew on three occasions, including when she was 17 in London and had been trafficked by Epstein, in New York, and on Epstein’s private island in the US Virgin Islands during an orgy when she was about 18.
In an interview with BBC Panorama, she told how Andrew was “the most hideous dancer I’ve ever seen in my life” and “his sweat was ... raining basically everywhere”.
The duke has insisted he has no memory of a well-known photograph of him with his arm around Ms Giuffre’s waist at the house of Epstein’s former partner Ghislaine Maxwell.
Andrew’s status as a member of the royal family was left in tatters when the queen later stripped him of his honorary military roles and remaining royal patronages and he gave up his HRH style in a dramatic fallout from his civil sex case.
But there were repeated calls for him to give up his dukedom, which tied him to the city of York and which he received from his mother on the morning of his wedding in 1986.
He hit the headlines in December after a high court hearing revealed alleged Chinese spy Yang Tengbo, who was banned from the UK, was said to have been a “close” confidant of Andrew.
Ms Giuffre, whose book is due to be published on Tuesday, wrote in her memoir that Andrew acted as if sex with her was his “birthright”. – PA
