King Charles III on Thursday stripped his disgraced brother Prince Andrew of his remaining titles and evicted him from his royal residence after weeks of pressure to act over Andrew’s relationship with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Buckingham Palace said the king “initiated a formal process to remove the style, titles and honors of Prince Andrew.”
Following the king’s rare move, Andrew will be known as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor rather than as a prince. He will move from his Royal Lodge residence into private accommodation.
It is almost unprecedented for a British prince or princess to be stripped of such a title. The last time it happened was in 1919, when Prince Ernest Augustus, a British royal and also a prince of Hanover, lost his title for siding with Germany during World War I.
Public pressure had been mounting on the palace to oust Andrew from Royal Lodge after he surrendered the title Duke of York earlier this month amid new revelations about his friendship with Epstein and renewed sexual abuse allegations by one of Epstein’s victims, Virginia Roberts Giuffre. Her posthumous memoir was published last week.
The king went further by removing the title of prince, which Andrew had held since birth as a child of the late Queen Elizabeth II, citing serious lapses of judgment.
“These censures are deemed necessary, notwithstanding the fact that he continues to deny the allegations against him,” the palace said. “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.”
Giuffre’s brother, Skye Roberts, declared victory for his sister, who died by suicide in April at age 41.
“Today, an ordinary American girl from an ordinary American family brought down a British prince with her truth and extraordinary courage,” Roberts said in a statement.
Andrew faced renewed public outrage after emails surfaced earlier this month suggesting he had remained in contact with Epstein longer than he had previously admitted.
That revelation was followed by the publication of Nobody’s Girl, Giuffre’s memoir, in which she alleged she had sex with Andrew when she was 17. The book described three alleged sexual encounters with Andrew, who she said acted as if “having sex with me was his birthright.”
Andrew, 65, has long denied Giuffre’s claims but stepped down from royal duties after a disastrous November 2019 BBC interview in which he attempted to rebut her allegations.
He paid millions in an out-of-court settlement in 2022 after Giuffre filed a civil suit against him in New York. While he did not admit wrongdoing, he acknowledged Giuffre’s suffering as a victim of sex trafficking.
Although Charles had been involved in discussions with Andrew before the duke relinquished his title two weeks ago, the king had largely avoided the scandal until this week.
After attending an event at Lichfield Cathedral on Monday, Charles was heckled by a man who shouted questions about his brother’s ties to Epstein and asked, “Have you asked the police to cover up for Andrew?”
The king did not respond, and it was unclear if he heard the man, who was shouted down by others and eventually removed from the area. Video of the incident aired on evening news programs and generated embarrassing headlines the next day.
The move by the king means Andrew will no longer be a prince or be known as His Royal Highness, the Duke of York, Earl of Inverness or Baron Killyleagh — all titles he previously held. He also loses honors including the Order of the Garter and the rank of Knight Grand Cross of the Victorian Order.
Andrew is expected to move to a property on the king’s Sandringham estate on England’s northeast coast and will receive private financial support from his brother.
His ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, who had been living with him in the 30-room mansion, will have to find a new home.