King Charles III stripped his brother Andrew of the title “Prince” on Thursday, the strongest discipline to date against the disgraced royal for his ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The king also ordered his brother evicted from his royal quarters in a striking set of punishments weeks after Andrew had given up his other noble titles.
“Prince Andrew will now be known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor,” Buckingham Palace said in a statement, adding that he will surrender his lease on Royal Lodge and move to a private accommodation.
“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,” the palace said.
It was previously reported that Andrew, son of the late Queen Elizabeth II, would remain a prince and only lose titles given to him when he was older, including those of Duke of York and Earl of Inverness, among others. But the palace’s decision Thursday to remove all “Style, Titles and Honours of Prince Andrew” marks a definitive moment in the royal’s public downfall.
Andrew, younger brother to Charles, has been unable to separate himself from the scandal over his friendship with Epstein, the American financier who ran a sex-trafficking ring.
One of Epstein’s victims, the late Virginia Giuffre, sued Andrew in 2021, claiming she was forced to have sex with him. The case was settled in 2022 with no admission of wrongdoing. Relatives of Giuffre, who died by suicide earlier this year, issued a statement this month calling Andrew’s renunciation of his titles “vindication for our sister and survivors everywhere,” and further calling on the king to remove his brother’s title of prince. Andrew continues to deny the allegations against him, which the palace acknowledged in its statement. In an infamous BBC Newsnight interview, he claimed he was at a PizzaExpress in Woking with his daughter, Princess Beatrice, at the time of the alleged assault. Beatrice and her sister, Eugenie, will retain their titles.
Erum Salam is a breaking news reporter and producer for MS NOW. She previously was a breaking news reporter for The Guardian.
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