King Charles III has officially initiated the removal of all royal titles from his brother, Prince Andrew. The unprecedented move comes after Andrew has been under continued scrutiny for his ties to Jeffrey Epstein.
Andrew, son of Queen Elizabeth, will no longer be known as a prince or His Royal Highness among other titles. Instead, he will be Andrew Mountbatten Windsor.
“His Majesty has today initiated a formal process to remove the Style, Titles and Honours of Prince Andrew,” Buckingham Palace said in the statement. “Prince Andrew will now be known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor.” He will also be evicted from his home at Royal Lodge in Windsor and will be moved to a private residence.
“These censures are deemed necessary, notwithstanding the fact that he continues to deny the allegations against him,” the palace continued. “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.”
Andrew himself gave up his title as Duke of York earlier this month. He issued a statement just before the posthumous publication of Virginia Giuffre‘s memoir. Giuffre was one of Epstein’s most prominent accusers and also filed a high-profile sexual assault lawsuit against Andrew, which was settled in 2022. Andrew has long denied Gifufre’s allegations, and he reiterated this in his statement renouncing his title.
“In discussion with The King, and my immediate and wider family, we have concluded the continued accusations about me distract from the work of His Majesty and the Royal Family,” Andrew said at the time. “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 stepped back from his public royal role in 2019 after he discussed his relationship with Epstein in a BBC interview. Giuffre’s memoir further detailed her allegations against Epstein, Andrew, and Ghislaine Maxwell, and was written before she committed suicide in April. In her book, she wrote that Andrew “believed having sex with me was his birthright” and had arranged three meetings with her through Epstein, beginning when she was 17.
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