Prince Andrew to give up royal title amid Jeffrey Epstein fallout
Prince Andrew has confirmed he will be giving up all his royal titles.
In a statement, he said: "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.
"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.
"With His Majesty's agreement, we feel I must now go a step further. I will therefore no longer use my title or the honors which have been conferred upon me.
Advert
"As I have said previously, I vigorously deny the accusations against me."
Andrew is to stop using his remaining titles and honors, including the Duke of York, in the wake of the Jeffrey Epstein scandal.
The King’s brother will retain the dukedom, which can only be removed by an Act of Parliament but not use it.
He will also give up his knighthood as a Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order (GCVO) and his Garter role as a Royal Knight Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter.
As well as a change to Andrew's titles, the BBC reports that his ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, will also no longer use her title of The Duchess of York. However, their daughters will still have the title of princess.
The latest development in the long-running controversy comes just days before the publication of a memoir by the late Virginia Giuffre, to whom Andrew paid millions to settle a civil sexual assault case.
Giuffre died by suicide at her home in Australia in April this year at the age of 41. She wrote Nobody's Girl: A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice before her death.
In the book, Giuffre alleged she met Prince Andrew in March 2001 and went to dinner and a nightclub with him before returning to Ghislaine Maxwell's home.
She claimed she was pressured to 'do for him what you do for Jeffrey' by Maxwell.
"The next morning, Maxwell told me: ‘You did well. The prince had fun,’" Giuffre wrote, claiming Epstein later handed her $15,000.
Prince Andrew has repeatedly and vehemently denied Giuffre’s allegations. Maxwell was convicted of sex trafficking in 2021 and Epstein died in jail in 2019.
UNILAD has previously reached out to Prince Andrew's representatives and Buckingham Palace for comment.
Topics: Prince Andrew, Royal Family
Callum Jones