“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.”
Jeffrey Epstein was initially charged in 2006 and negotiated a plea deal with prosecutors that led to most of the charges being dropped. He was found guilty of soliciting a minor for prostitution and spent time in prison and under house arrest before he emerged in 2010.
He was arrested on federal sex-trafficking charges in July 2019, but was found dead in his New York prison cell one month later.
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Andrew acknowledged the damage to the royal family in a statement on October 17, saying he would stop using his titles.
But the media debate intensified around Andrew with last Wednesday’s release of a memoir by Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who has written a detailed account of having sex with Andrew on three occasions, starting when she was 17. Andrew has denied the allegations and has said in the past that they had never met.
Prince Andrew with Virginia Roberts Giuffre (centre) in 2001 and Epstein’s then personal assistant Ghislaine Maxwell.
Immediate effect
The change in Andrew’s name, removing his title as prince or duke, takes immediate effect.
The moves will not require action by parliament because the King is using his own powers to change the honours and titles that are traditionally conferred by the monarch.
The removal covers Andrew’s titles of Prince, Duke of York, Earl of Inverness, Baron Killyleagh and the title of “His Royal Highness” that he has used in the past.
The honours cancelled are his Order of the Garter and Knight Grand Cross of the Victorian Order.
This does not involve any change for his daughters, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, who retain their “Her Royal Highness” titles as set out in letters patent from 1917 that confer these titles.
The changes are being made by a series of royal warrants issued by the king to the Lord Chancellor, who will remove the Dukedom of York from the Peerage Roll and do the same with the titles of Inverness and Killyleagh.
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This is seen as a better way to accomplish the objective rather than asking parliament to cancel the dukedom, in the way that it passed laws during the First World War to remove titles from some hereditary peers who fought on the German side in the conflict.
While the King decided on the measures, they were completed without an objection from his brother.
While Andrew is expected to move to a property on the Sandringham estate, there is no provision for additional accommodation for his former wife, Sarah, who has also relinquished the use of her titles.
The accommodation for Andrew will be funded by the King out of the royal family’s income, with no clarity about how much this will cost.
It will be up to Andrew to find any other source of income to provide for his new life on the fringes of the royal family.
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