The decision to wipe Andrew Mountbatten Windsor from the royal family’s official website is a final humiliation for the embattled former prince, according to one of Queen Elizabeth’s former senior aides.
Prince Andrew’s bio was scrubbed from the royal.uk website over the weekend, where it had featured under the headline “The Royal Family” as recently as Friday – the day Buckingham Palace made the bombshell announcement he was being stripped of his title of ‘Prince’ and had been ordered to move out of his home of 20 years, Royal Lodge.
Any mention of Queen Elizabeth II’s favourite son under the heading “Royal Family Members” has now been erased.
Andrew’s name and bio have been wiped from the royal family’s official website. (AP)
Instead, the list of royal family members now mentions the King, the Queen, the Princess of Wales, the Prince of Wales, the Duke of Edinburgh, the Duchess of Edinburgh, the Princess Royal, the Duke of Gloucester, the Duchess of Gloucester, the Duke of Kent, Princess Alexandra and even non-working royals, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
Ailsa Anderson, who was press secretary to the late Queen from 2001 to 2013, told The Daily Mail the move, following on from Buckingham Palace’s announcement, was telling.
“His humiliation is complete,” Anderson said.
“The palace statement was absolutely unprecedented and decisive, and rightly so.
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A senior aide to the late Queen Elizabeth says she is glad she is not here to witness her son’s final downfall. (Getty)
“I am so pleased Queen Elizabeth is not here to see this. She was all about duty and service.
“It was never about self. For her, it was always about her country.”
Another unnamed former royal aide told the publication the downgrade would be particularly hard to face given Andrew was obsessed with status and standing.
“He will only be remembered as the most disgraced royal of his generation,” the source said.
There was also more bad news for Andrew; he is reportedly going to be stripped of his last remaining honorary military rank.
Defence Secretary John Healey told the BBC that Andrew would lose his honorary vice admiralty.
“The government’s been guided by the decisions and judgments the King’s made. In Defence, it’s exactly the same,” Healey said.
“Guided again by the King, we are working now to remove that last remaining title of vice admiral that he has.”
King Charles took action against his brother on Friday. (Getty)
Andrew was awarded the honorary vice admiral title in 2015 in recognition of his navy career, which saw take part in active service during the Falklands War.
He gave up his other military titles in 2022.
Then two weeks ago, he relinquished his other titles, including Duke of York, after fresh details about his relationship with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and alleged victim Virginia Giuffre came to light.
Andrew’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell have been known for some time but came under renewed scrutiny due to the release of the posthumous memoir Nobody’s Girl.
In it, Giuffre, who died by suicide earlier this year at her home in WA, alleged she was forced to have sex with Andrew on three separate occasions, including once with Epstein and “eight other young girls”.Â
Meanwhile, Andrew will move out of Royal Lodge early next year for a new life in exile on Sandringham estate, which is owned by his brother King Charles.
Unlike his former home, it is not on Crown Estate land, so any agreement he may have with King Charles will not be up for public discussion.
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The photo of Andrew with his accuser, Virginia Giuffre, and Ghislaine Maxwell in the background. (Nine)
It is not known which of the 27 properties located on the estate he will live in.
However, whichever one he chooses, it is likely to be a step down from the 30-room Royal Lodge, where staff reportedly still bowed to Andrew and addressed him as Your Royal Highness even after he stopped officially using his HRH styling in an official capacity in 2022.
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