King Strips Prince Andrew of All Titles

The King has removed Prince Andrew’s remaining titles and will evict him from Royal Lodge.

On Thursday night, Buckingham Palace announced that the monarch’s younger brother would now be known simply as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor.

Confirming that Andrew had surrendered the lease on his Windsor home after weeks of allegations over his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, the palace said the King and Queen wanted to make clear that their sympathies had always rested with the victims of abuse.

The former prince will relocate to a small property on the Sandringham estate in Norfolk, with his upkeep funded by the King.

His ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, with whom he had continued to live at Royal Lodge for two decades, will be cast out and forced to make her own private living arrangements.

Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, as daughters of the son of a sovereign, will retain their titles.

The unprecedented development followed almost two weeks of negotiations with the wider family before agreement was finally secured from Andrew late on Thursday.

A royal source said that the King had “acted swiftly” following the revelation that his brother had remained in touch with Epstein, the convicted paedophile, longer than he had admitted.

But the monarch was acutely aware that after initially forcing Andrew to relinquish his dukedom, he remained a prince and therefore a longer term solution was required.

It was clear that, while Andrew continued to deny the sex abuse allegations made against him, there had been “serious lapses of judgment” and that “the necessity of further action was never in doubt”, the source added.

The Prince of Wales was “fully supportive” of the King’s leadership on the matter, a Kensington Palace source confirmed.

Buckingham Palace released its statement at 7pm:

The removal process applies to Andrew’s titles of Prince, Duke of York, Earl of Inverness, Baron Killyleagh and the style “His Royal Highness”.

The honours affected are his Order of the Garter and Knight Grand Cross of the Victorian Order.

The announcement followed days of political wrangling after efforts to contain the scandal engulfing Andrew ultimately failed.

Such was the clamour for decisive action that on Wednesday MPs demanded an explanation of Andrew’s living arrangements at Royal Lodge in light of the “serious and disturbing” allegations made against him.

The public accounts committee contacted the Crown Estate, the body responsible for his lease agreement, questioning whether the vast, 30-room property – for which he has paid no rent for two decades – was still an appropriate home for him.

Meanwhile, Republic, the anti-monarchy campaign group, said it had instructed lawyers to investigate whether it could bring a private prosecution over allegations of sexual assault, corruption and misconduct in public office.

Andrew had been under pressure from Buckingham Palace to move out of Royal Lodge for more than a year amid concerns that the palatial property no longer befitted his status.

Last autumn, the King withdrew his personal allowance and security provision in an attempt to smoke him out. But Andrew made clear that he was “going nowhere” based on the 75-year “cast iron lease” that he signed in 2002 which did not expire until 2078.

However, the latest revelations concerning his relationship with Epstein – coupled with his involvement in the Chinese spy scandal and the revelation that he had passed his abuse accuser Virginia Giuffre’s date of birth and social security number to his personal protection officer in an attempt to dig up dirt for a smear campaign – finally pushed the King to take drastic action.

The King will send Royal Warrants to the Lord Chancellor, who is responsible for maintaining the Roll of the Peerage, to secure the removal of the Dukedom of York title, ensuring that it cannot be used officially.

The title of Prince and style of Royal Highness, as well as Andrew’s subsidiary titles of Inverness and Killyleagh will be similarly removed.

The King opted not to abolish the Dukedom via an Act of Parliament because he did not want the scandal to take up MPs’ precious time and prevent them from focusing on urgent national issues, a source said.

However, the development was done in consultation with the relevant Government authorities. The Government is said to have made clear that the King’s actions were “constitutionally proper” and that it supported his decision.

Kemi Badenoch, the Tory leader, said it must have been “very difficult” for the King to take such steps against his sibling, but that it was right for the public not to tolerate sexual abuse allegations.

Sir Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrat leader, said the monarch was “absolutely right” to act this way.

“It’s clear that Andrew’s position had become totally untenable, having disgraced his office and embarrassed the country,” he added. “This is an important step towards rebuilding trust in our institutions and drawing a line under this whole sorry saga.”

On Friday, a Labour minister said Andrew had abused his power as a member of the Royal family and should not be remembered “at all”.

Sir Chris Bryant told Times Radio: “You’ve only got to read – and you could have been reading many of these stories for more than a decade ago now, the stories of Virginia Giuffre and many others – to see the changing accounts that Andrew has come up with on Epstein...to realise there has been an abuse of position, an abuse of trust.”

In a later interview with LBC, Sir Chris went on to say he “applauds” the King’s decision, adding: “I guess I prefer not to remember him at all. I think the vast majority of people will go ‘great, let’s close that chapter’.”

While the King initiated the process, his brother did, eventually, agree to the move.

On Thursday night, Giuffre’s family said she had “brought down a British prince with her truth and extraordinary courage”.

Giuffre, who took her own life earlier this year, alleged that she was raped and abused by Andrew three times as a teenager.

In a statement the family said: “Today, she declares a victory. We, her family, along with her survivor sisters, continue Virginia’s battle and will not rest until the same accountability applies to all of her abusers and abetters, connected to Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.”

The terms of Andrew’s lease meant that he could not be evicted forcibly from Royal Lodge. Instead, he had to agree to serve formal notice to surrender the lease. The process is expected to take some time.

The newly named Mountbatten Windsor will be eligible for compensation for moving out early, but the significant cost of much-needed renovation works will be deducted from any money due.

His role as a counsellor of state had previously been rendered inactive.

Andrew remains eighth in line to the throne.