Prince Andrew royal titles stripped after alleged Jeffrey Epstein link
Prince Andrew will no longer use his royal titles, Buckingham Palace confirmed Friday, three years after he was ousted as a senior royal following allegations over his connections to convicted American sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Though the former Duke of York continues to deny collaborating with the disgraced sex offender, he said he agrees the controversy surrounding him has posed a distraction for the royal family.
“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,” Andrew said in an Oct. 17 statement shared by Buckingham Palace.
He added that with King Charles III’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. As I have said previously, I vigorously deny the accusations against me.”
Andrew’s late mother, Queen Elizabeth II, stripped him of his patronages and military associations in 2022, making him a royal persona non grata. The decision occurred after a sex abuse lawsuit filed against him by Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who died by suicide in Australia earlier this year, was settled.
Since then, he has only made public appearances at family events, including his parents’ funerals and, most recently, the funeral of Britain’s Duchess of Kent, Katharine, last month.
The second son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip found his relationship tarnished after Giuffre alleged that Andrew sex trafficked her at 17. In 2015, she said Epstein trafficked her to Andrew three times around 2001.
In February 2022, the sex abuse lawsuit was settled for an undisclosed total and a “substantial donation” to Giuffre’s charity.
In a 2019 BBC interview, Andrew, who has expressed regret for his former friendship with Epstein, said he had “no recollection of ever meeting this lady, none whatsoever.”
“Prince Andrew regrets his association with Epstein, and commends the bravery of Ms. Giuffre and other survivors in standing up for themselves and others,” one of the 2022 documents filed in federal court in New York read. “He pledges to demonstrate his regret for his association with Epstein by supporting the fight against the evils of sex trafficking, and by supporting its victims.”