King Charles strips Andrew of ‘prince’ title

London: King Charles has launched a formal process to cancel the titles and honours of Prince Andrew and will evict him from his Royal Lodge residence in a dramatic sanction over his long friendship with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The new measures go further than the prince’s decision two weeks ago to give up the use of his titles, clearing the way for an official process that will remove his titles, including his position as Duke of York.

Buckingham Palace announced the new steps in a statement on Thursday night in London (6am Friday, AEDT), and said they included a formal notice to Andrew to give up his lease on Royal Lodge.

It is understood that Andrew will move to accommodation on the royal Sandringham Estate in Norfolk, which would be funded privately by the King.

Andrew’s lease on the 30-room Royal Lodge, near Windsor Castle, had been a source of growing controversy because the agreement ran until 2078 and only required him to pay a “peppercorn” rent.

“Prince Andrew will now be known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor,” the palace said.

“His lease on Royal Lodge has, to date, provided him with legal protection to continue in residence. Formal notice has now been served to surrender the lease.

“These censures are deemed necessary, notwithstanding the fact that he continues to deny the allegations against him.

“Their majesties wish to make clear that their thoughts and utmost sympathies have been, and will remain with, the victims and survivors of any and all forms of abuse.”

In response, the family of Virginia Roberts Giuffre, the woman who accused Andrew of sexual assault and died by suicide earlier this year, described her as “an ordinary American girl” who had “brought down a British prince with her truth and extraordinary courage”.

“Virginia Roberts Giuffre, our sister, a child when she was sexually assaulted by Andrew, never stopped fighting for accountability for what had happened to her and to countless other survivors”, her brother Skye Roberts and sister-in-law Amanda said in a statement reported by the BBC.

“Today, she declares victory.”

The removal of the title of prince is almost unprecedented for the British royal family. In 1917, an Act of Parliament was used to strip the title of Prince Ernest Augustus, a distant relative of King George V, for siding with Germany during the First World War.

And although Prince Harry renounced his royal role in 2020 and moved to California, he remains a prince and the Duke of Sussex.

Despite losing his titles, Andrew remains eighth in line to the throne after William, Prince of Wales, Prince George of Wales, Princess Charlotte of Wales, Prince Louis of Wales, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Prince Archie of Sussex, and Princess Lilibet of Sussex.

According to the BBC, the British government was consulted on the decision and made it clear that it supported the move.

Appearing on the BBC’s Question Time program, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said it sent a “very powerful message to the victims of grooming and sex offences”.

Andrew has denied and continues to deny all the allegations made against him.

Immediate effect

The change in Andrew’s name, removing his titles as prince or duke, takes immediate effect.

The moves will not require action by parliament because the King is using his own powers to change the honours and titles that are traditionally conferred by the monarch.

Andrew will formally lose the titles of Prince, Duke of York, Earl of Inverness, Baron Killyleagh and will not be referred to as “His Royal Highness”.

The honours cancelled are his Order of the Garter and Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order.

It does not involve any change for his daughters, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, who will retain their “Her Royal Highness” titles as set out in letters patent from 1917. These established that only the child of a monarch, the child of the sons of a monarch, and the eldest living son of the eldest son of the heir to the throne, could be called prince or princess.

The changes will be made through a series of royal warrants issued by the King to the Lord Chancellor, who will remove the Dukedom of York from the Peerage Roll and take similar actions with the titles of Inverness and Killyleagh.

This is seen as a better way to accomplish the objective rather than through an Act of Parliament, as was used in the case of Prince Ernest Augustus.

While the King decided on the measures, they were completed without an objection from his brother.

Andrew is expected to move to a property on the Sandringham estate, but there is no provision for additional accommodation for his former wife, Sarah, who has lived with him at Royal Lodge since 2008 and also relinquished her titles.

The accommodation for Andrew will be funded by the King out of the royal family’s income, with no clarity about how much this will cost.

It will be up to Andrew to find any other source of income to provide for his new life on the fringes of the royal family.

Epstein links

Jeffrey Epstein was initially charged with sexual offences in 2006, but negotiated a plea deal with prosecutors that led to most of the charges being dropped. He was found guilty of soliciting a minor for prostitution and spent time in prison and under house arrest before he emerged in 2010.

Andrew’s connection to Epstein surfaced in the media the following year, and a photo began to circulate showing the prince with his arm around 17-year-old Roberts Giuffre in Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell’s London apartment in 2001.

In 2014, Andrew was named in US court papers in which Roberts Giuffre alleged she was trafficked to Andrew at least three times by Epstein and paid $US15000 to have sex with him.

Five years later, Roberts Giuffre appeared on US television to speak out, alongside other Epstein victims. Andrew then made a disastrous appearance on BBC Newsnight in November 2019, in which he denied ever meeting Roberts Giuffre, and stated he had had no contact with Epstein since December 2010.

Days after the Newsnight interview, Buckingham Palace announced that Andrew would step back from public life “for the foreseeable future”.

Epstein, meanwhile, had been arrested on federal sex-trafficking charges in July 2019 and was found dead in his New York prison cell one month later.

Roberts Giuffre lodged a civil claim for sexual assault in August 2021, and a US judge rejected Andrew’s attempt to have the case thrown out. Andrew settled out of court in February 2022, months before it was due to go to trial. The payment to Giuffre was reportedly worth millions of pounds.

Andrew’s claims he had severed ties with Epstein in 2010 were undermined when emails surfaced this year showing messages to Epstein from February 2011 in which he wrote: “it would seem we are in this together” and “Keep in close touch and we’ll play some more soon!!!!”

Andrew acknowledged the damage to the royal family in a statement on October 17, saying he would stop using his titles, including the Duke of York.

But the pressure continued, with last Wednesday’s publication of Roberts Giuffre’s memoir, Nobody’s Girl, in which she wrote in detail about her abuse by Epstein and other powerful men, including sexual encounters with Andrew as a teenager.

It also emerged that Andrew had hosted Epstein, Harvey Weinstein and Ghislaine Maxwell at Royal Lodge in 2006, two months after the initial warrant for Epstein’s arrest had been issued.

Lifeline 13 11 14; Beyond Blue 1800 512 348; Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800; National Domestic Family and Sexual Violence Counselling Service 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732).