Prince Andrew is to be stripped of his royal titles and will move out of his home at the Royal Lodge in Windsor, Buckingham Palace has announced. King Charles has initiated a “formal process to remove the style, titles and honours of Prince Andrew”, who will now be known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor.
The decision follows anxiety within the royal household about the reputational risk to the monarchy caused by continual headlines concerning Andrew’s friendship with the late child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and allegations of sexual assault against him by one of Epstein’s victims, Virginia Giuffre. This month the Guardian published extracts from the posthumous memoir of Giuffre, who died by suicide in April, aged 41. In the book she claimed the prince “believed that having sex with me was his birthright”. Andrew has always denied the claims.
Buckingham Palace said in a statement: “Prince Andrew will now be known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor. 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 and he will move to alternative private accommodation.” It is understood that Andrew will move to a property on the private Sandringham estate in Norfolk, to be privately funded by the king. His ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, will also move out of Royal Lodge.
The removal process applies to the titles of Prince, Duke of York, Earl of Inverness, Baron Killyleagh and the style His Royal Highness. The honours affected are Andrew’s Order of the Garter and Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order. He had ceased to use the HRH style in 2022 but it had not been formally removed. As daughters of the son of a monarch, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie retain their titles.
The king is understood to have acted now because while Andrew continues to deny the accusations against him, it is felt that there have been serious lapses of judgment. The government supports the decision. Giuffre’s family said on Thursday that “today, she declares a victory” and that she had “brought down a British prince with her truth and extraordinary courage”.
