King Charles is stripping his younger brother Andrew of his remaining titles and honours and evicting him from his royal residence, Buckingham Palace said Thursday. It comes after weeks of pressure to act over Andrew’s ties to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The statement said a formal notice had now been served on Andrew to surrender the lease of his mansion, called Royal Lodge, and he will move to alternative private accommodation.
The palace said Andrew will be known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor and not as a prince.
Pressure had been growing on the palace to oust the prince from Royal Lodge after he surrendered his use of the title Duke of York earlier this month over his friendship with Epstein and allegations by one of Epstein’s accusers, Virginia Roberts Giuffre.
But the King went even further, stripping him of the title of prince that he has had since birth as a child of a monarch, the late Queen Elizabeth II.
WATCH | UK residents react to the palace’s announcement:
News of removal of Andrew’s royal title and eviction from Royal Lodge spreads through London
When asked for their opinion on Andrew being stripped of his titles and residence in the Royal Lodge, the people on the streets of London were mostly in agreement. Some called Andrew ‘a disgrace,’ while others were waiting to base their judgement on the veracity of the sex abuse allegations against him.
“These censures are deemed necessary, notwithstanding the fact that he continues to deny the allegations against him,” the palace said. “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.”
It is almost unprecedented for a British prince or princess to be stripped of that title. It last happened in 1919, when Prince Ernest Augustus, who was a U.K. royal and also a prince of Hanover, had his British title removed for siding with Germany during the First World War.
Today’s news broke during a recording of the BBC’s Question Time, a TV show debating current issues with political guests in front of a live studio audience.
As the details of the King’s decision were read out by host Fiona Bruce, the studio audience gave a resounding applause.
Memoir detailed alleged sexual encounters
Andrew faced a new round of public criticism after emails emerged earlier this month showing he had remained in contact with Epstein longer than he previously admitted.
That news was followed by publication of a posthumous memoir by Giuffre, an Epstein accuser who alleged she had sex with Andrew when she was 17. Nobody’s Girl detailed three alleged sexual encounters with Andrew, who she said acted as if he believed “having sex with me was his birthright.”
Andrew, 65, has long denied Giuffre’s claims, but stepped down from royal duties after a disastrous November 2019 BBC interview in which he attempted to rebut her allegations.
Andrew paid millions in an out-of-court settlement in 2022 after Giuffre filed a civil suit against him in New York. While he didn’t admit wrongdoing, he acknowledged Giuffre’s suffering as a victim of sex trafficking.
Giuffre’s brother declared victory for his sister, who died by suicide in April at the age of 41.
“Today, an ordinary American girl from an ordinary American family brought down a British prince with her truth and extraordinary courage,” her brother Skye Roberts said in a statement.
Pressure mounted on Charles
Although Charles was involved in discussions with Andrew before he announced he would relinquish his dukedom two weeks ago, the King had largely managed to steer clear of the scandal until this week.
After attending an event at Lichfield Cathedral on Monday, the King was heckled by a man who shouted questions about how long he had known about his brother and Epstein and then asked: “Have you asked the police to cover up for Andrew?”
The King did not respond, and it wasn’t clear if he even heard the man, who was shouted down by others and eventually pulled from sight.
King Charles III, pictured Monday, faced heavy public pressure surrounding Andrew’s scandals. (Temilade Adelaja/The Associated Press)
But video of the incident made the evening news and was the source of embarrassing headlines the next morning.
Craig Prescott, a constitutional expert and lecturer in law at Royal Holloway, University of London, described the situation as “the first genuine royal crisis” of Charles’s reign.
“This will be one of those moments that is sort of pointed out as a particular issue for the monarchy that it struggled to deal with,” he told CBC News.
Andrew still in line for the throne
Andrew remains eighth in line to the throne and could only be removed from the line of succession by an act of Parliament, Prescott said. That would also require the consent of the 14 other countries where Charles is King, including Canada.
Buckingham Palace said Andrew’s daughters, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, will keep their titles because they are “the daughters of the son of a sovereign,” with the sovereign in this case being Queen Elizabeth II.
The move by the King means Andrew will no longer be known as His Royal Highness, the Duke of York, Earl of Inverness or Baron Killyleagh — all titles he held until now. Also gone are honours that include Order of the Garter and status as Knight Grand Cross of the Victorian Order.
Justin Vovk, a royal historian and member of the advisory board of the Institute for the Study of the Crown in Canada, told CBC News Thursday’s actions speak “to the King being more proactive than I think his predecessors would have been.”
He also said he thinks they speak to Charles’s “self-proclaimed modernizing approach to monarchy.”
But the process to remove Andrew’s titles won’t necessarily be instant — or easy.
“I suspect a lot is being worked out right now between Buckingham Palace and Westminster in terms of how to legislate this process and most likely to expedite it,” Vovk said.
“The last thing anyone wants, I’m sure, is for this to be a long, drawn-out process.”
A drone view from last week shows Royal Lodge, a large property on the estate surrounding Windsor Castle, where Andrew has lived since 2003. (Reuters/Stringer)Andrew to move to Charles’s private estate
When Andrew took possession of the Royal Lodge, he signed a 75-year lease, effectively handing him the property for the rest of his life. Andrew agreed at the time to spend £7.5 million (around $16.8 million Cdn in 2003) to substantially refurbish the property, and another £1 million (around $2.2 million Cdn) for the lease.
He has effectively not paid anything more for it since, except for “peppercorn rent,” which is usually a nominal fee of £1 per year.
His ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, who had been living with him in the 30-room mansion, will have to find a new home.
Andrew is expected to move to a property on the King’s Sandringham estate near the northeast coast and receive private financial support from his brother.