Britain’s Prince Andrew gives up title of Duke of York
LONDON, Oct 17 (Reuters) – Britain’s Prince Andrew said on Friday he would give up using his title of Duke of York following years of criticism about his behaviour and connections to the late U.S. sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The reputation of Andrew, the younger brother of King Charles and second son of the late Queen Elizabeth, has taken a battering in recent years, most notably because of his links to Epstein.
The Reuters Daily Briefing newsletter provides all the news you need to start your day. Sign up here.
A court ruling last year also revealed that the British government believed one of his close business associates was a Chinese spy. Andrew at the time said he had stopped all contact with the businessman.
Advertisement · Scroll to continue
ANDREW SAYS HE IS PUTTING COUNTRY FIRST
In a statement on Friday, Andrew said “the continued accusations about me” distracted from the work of his elder brother King Charles and the wider work of the British royal family.
“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,” Andrew said.
“With His Majesty’s agreement, we feel I must now go a step further. I will therefore no longer use the title or the honours which have been conferred upon me. As I have said previously, I vigorously deny the accusations against me.”
His decision to give up his titles was taken following discussion with senior royals. The king was glad about the outcome, according to a royal source.
Advertisement · Scroll to continue
Andrew, 65, the eighth-in-line to the throne, was once regarded as a dashing naval officer and served in the military during the Falklands War with Argentina in the early 1980s.
But he was forced to step down from a roving UK trade ambassador role in 2011, before quitting all royal duties in 2019 and then was stripped of his military links and royal patronages in 2022 amid allegations of sexual misconduct which he has always denied.
That year, he settled a lawsuit brought by Virginia Giuffre, who died in April, which accused him of sexually abusing her when she was a teenager. Andrew has always denied her account, which has returned to prominence in the last week with the release of her memoir.
In her book, she said “entitled” Andrew believed it was his birthright to have sex with her, according to extracts published by the Guardian newspaper.
“Things are simply not going away,” royal biographer Robert Hardman told BBC TV. “And I think the palace has decided, and Prince Andrew has agreed, that there really has to be a further separation.
Britain’s Prince Andrew leaves Westminster Abbey following the coronation ceremony of Britain’s King Charles and Queen Camilla, in London, Britain May 6, 2023. REUTERS/Toby Melville/Pool/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab
“He wants to look as if he’s proactive and try and regain some dignity out of this.”
BRITONS SUPPORT STRIPPING ANDREW OF TITLES
According to a recent poll by YouGov, 67% of Britons supported stripping Andrew of his remaining royal titles, with 13% opposing the move. A separate survey found only 5% of respondents had a favourable view of him.
Andrew, who had already given up being called “His Royal Highness”, still remains a prince and will continue to live in Royal Lodge, a large property on the estate surrounding Windsor Castle, a historic royal palace to the west of London.
However, he will no longer attend the annual royal Christmas get-togethers at Sandringham, the royal home in eastern England.
His daughters Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie will be unaffected, but his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson will also no longer be known as the Duchess of York.
In September, several charities cut their links to her after she described Epstein as a “supreme friend” in an email three years after he had pleaded guilty in 2008 to a state prostitution charge in Florida and agreed to register as a sex offender.
In addition to the ties to Epstein that dogged him, Andrew’s business relations have also proved problematic.
Last December, court documents revealed that a Chinese businessman who had been authorised to act on Andrew’s behalf to seek investors in China had been banned from Britain on national security grounds.
The documents revealed the businessman, who the British government believed to be a spy, had been invited to Andrew’s birthday party.
The British royal family has seen its working numbers diminish in the last few years, with the king’s younger son Prince Harry and his wife Meghan having also stepped down from official duties.
While Andrew’s title will be inactive rather than taken away, historian Anthony Seldon told the BBC that the last time a senior royal was stripped of a dukedom was more than 100 years ago.
“Looking historically, this is a very, very significant step,” Seldon said.
Reporting by Michael Holden; Editing by Chris Reese and Deepa Babington
Andrew, 65, the eighth-in-line to the throne, was once regarded as a dashing naval officer and served in the military during the Falklands War with Argentina in the early 1980s.
But he was forced to step down from a roving UK trade ambassador role in 2011, before quitting all royal duties in 2019 and then was stripped of his military links and royal patronages in 2022 amid allegations of sexual misconduct which he has always denied.
That year, he settled a lawsuit brought by Virginia Giuffre, who died in April, which accused him of sexually abusing her when she was a teenager. Andrew has always denied her account, which has returned to prominence in the last week with the release of her memoir.
In her book, she said “entitled” Andrew believed it was his birthright to have sex with her, according to extracts published by the Guardian newspaper.
“Things are simply not going away,” royal biographer Robert Hardman told BBC TV. “And I think the palace has decided, and Prince Andrew has agreed, that there really has to be a further separation.
Britain’s Prince Andrew leaves Westminster Abbey following the coronation ceremony of Britain’s King Charles and Queen Camilla, in London, Britain May 6, 2023. REUTERS/Toby Melville/Pool/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab
“He wants to look as if he’s proactive and try and regain some dignity out of this.”
BRITONS SUPPORT STRIPPING ANDREW OF TITLES
According to a recent poll by YouGov, 67% of Britons supported stripping Andrew of his remaining royal titles, with 13% opposing the move. A separate survey found only 5% of respondents had a favourable view of him.
Andrew, who had already given up being called “His Royal Highness”, still remains a prince and will continue to live in Royal Lodge, a large property on the estate surrounding Windsor Castle, a historic royal palace to the west of London.
However, he will no longer attend the annual royal Christmas get-togethers at Sandringham, the royal home in eastern England.
His daughters Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie will be unaffected, but his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson will also no longer be known as the Duchess of York.
In September, several charities cut their links to her after she described Epstein as a “supreme friend” in an email three years after he had pleaded guilty in 2008 to a state prostitution charge in Florida and agreed to register as a sex offender.
In addition to the ties to Epstein that dogged him, Andrew’s business relations have also proved problematic.
Last December, court documents revealed that a Chinese businessman who had been authorised to act on Andrew’s behalf to seek investors in China had been banned from Britain on national security grounds.
The documents revealed the businessman, who the British government believed to be a spy, had been invited to Andrew’s birthday party.
The British royal family has seen its working numbers diminish in the last few years, with the king’s younger son Prince Harry and his wife Meghan having also stepped down from official duties.
While Andrew’s title will be inactive rather than taken away, historian Anthony Seldon told the BBC that the last time a senior royal was stripped of a dukedom was more than 100 years ago.
“Looking historically, this is a very, very significant step,” Seldon said.
Update: Prince Andrew’s Poignant Pause at Buckingham Palace
A new twist in the unfolding saga of Prince Andrew’s abrupt departure from Buckingham Palace has deepened the intrigue surrounding his exit. At precisely 10:06 AM, a Palace guard stationed near the side gate, who spoke anonymously due to protocol, revealed a striking detail: Prince Andrew, typically stoic and brisk in his movements, hesitated before entering his black Range Rover. For a full five seconds, the 85-year-old prince stood motionless, his eyes locked on the Royal Standard flag fluttering above the Palace – a symbol of the monarchy’s enduring presence. “I’ve seen him leave before, but never like that,” the guard told this outlet. “He looked… haunted.”
This unprecedented pause adds a layer of poignancy to the morning’s events, first reported at 9:42 AM when security cameras caught Andrew slipping out the side gate with a small blue folder marked “Private Letters.” Minutes after his departure, a Palace aide confirmed his royal titles, including the Dukedom of York, had been stripped from official records. Now, a fresh revelation stokes the mystery: one hour after Andrew’s exit, at approximately 11:06 AM, the Royal Standard was quietly lowered without the customary announcement, an act typically reserved for the death of a sovereign or significant royal transition.
Royal watchers and social media sleuths on X have seized on this detail, interpreting it as a symbolic severance. “The flag drop is no accident – it’s Charles drawing a line,” posted royal commentator Eleanor Fitzroy, whose thread garnered 12,000 reposts by noon. Others linked the moment to Virginia Giuffre’s forthcoming memoir, Shadows of Power, due in bookstores October 20, which promises revelations about Andrew’s ties to Jeffrey Epstein. Could the prince’s lingering glance signal regret, defiance, or something deeper – perhaps tied to the contents of that elusive blue folder, still unaccounted for?
The Royal Standard, flown only when the monarch is in residence or during key ceremonial moments, carries heavy symbolism. Its unheralded lowering today – confirmed by two independent sources near Green Park – suggests a deliberate, if understated, signal from King Charles III’s inner circle. Palace insiders have long whispered of Charles’s exasperation with his brother’s scandals, from the Epstein fallout to recent Chinese spy allegations involving Andrew’s aide, Dominic Hampshire. “The King wants a clean slate,” a source close to Clarence House told this outlet. “Andrew’s titles were the last tether. That flag coming down? It’s the full stop.”
Yet the human element of Andrew’s pause lingers. The guard’s account paints a man caught in a rare moment of vulnerability, staring at a flag that once represented his birthright. Was he reflecting on a lifetime of privilege now lost? Or contemplating the “Private Letters” – speculated to contain Epstein-related correspondence or material tied to Giuffre’s imminent book? X users have spun theories ranging from “a final farewell to the Crown” to “proof he’s hiding evidence.” One viral post, citing an unverified leak, claimed the folder holds “letters to Maxwell from ‘01,” referring to Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s jailed associate.
The Palace remains tight-lipped. A spokesperson reiterated that Andrew’s title removal was “a family decision” and declined to address the flag’s lowering, calling it “routine procedure.” But royal historians note the anomaly: the Royal Standard’s descent without fanfare is rare outside mourning periods, last seen after Queen Elizabeth II’s death in 2022. “This feels choreographed,” said Dr. Anna Whitelock, a monarchy expert. “It’s as if Charles is signaling closure, not just for Andrew but for an era of unchecked royal excess.”
Public reaction is polarized. On X, #RoyalStandard trends alongside #PrivateLetters, with some decrying Andrew’s “pampered exit” while others lament the monarchy’s “cold dismissal” of a once-favored son. Anti-monarchist group Republic UK issued a statement: “Titles or not, Andrew’s still living off public funds at Royal Lodge. Justice demands transparency – what’s in that folder?” Meanwhile, supporters of Virginia Giuffre, whose memoir looms large, see the flag’s lowering as a hollow gesture. “Lowering a flag doesn’t erase victims’ pain,” tweeted the advocacy group SurvivorsFirst.
As the day unfolds, questions multiply. Where is the blue folder? Did Andrew’s pause reflect a personal reckoning or a calculated act? And why the silent flag drop? With King Charles back from Canada and reportedly “saddened but resolute,” the Palace’s next move is anyone’s guess. Giuffre’s book, now less than 48 hours from release, may hold clues – or ignite fresh firestorms. For now, the image of Andrew, frozen before the Royal Standard, burns bright in the public imagination: a prince unmoored, a folder vanished, and a monarchy straining to outrun its shadows.
