Prince Andrew is giving up all his titles now – what it means for the royal family
Prince Andrew is giving up his titles, including the Duke of York, he has announced in a personal statement.
He has been under increasing pressure over his links with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, with calls for Buckingham Palace to take action against him.
That now seems to have resulted in the prince deciding to voluntarily hand back his titles and to give up membership of the Order of the Garter, the oldest and most senior order of chivalry in Britain.
In his statement he said he continued to “vigorously deny the accusations against me”.
From The Guardian : the Royal Family has been srsistent pressure on the monarchy over the allegations against Andrew – especially since his disastrous Newsnight interview with Emily Maitlis in 2019. He now claims he is acting to protect the royal family from further damage caused by public speculation.
Andrew emailed Epstein on 28 February 2011, the day after the well-known photograph of the duke, Giuffre and Ghislaine Maxwell was made public. He told Epstein to “keep in close touch” and expressed a wish to “play some more soon”.
He remains a prince and eighth in the line of succession. In theory, he is also still a counsellor of state – and can stand in for the king if he is overseas or unwell. Although the palace has made clear that, in practice, he would not be asked to fulfil this role.
Nevertheless, it is telling that Andrew’s statement said the decision was made “in discussion with the king”. There seems little doubt that, behind the scenes, the palace pushed for this in the hope of cutting Andrew loose.
The Guardian