{"id":114046,"date":"2025-11-02T12:57:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-02T12:57:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/114046\/"},"modified":"2025-11-02T12:57:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-02T12:57:11","slug":"king-wants-andrew-to-lose-last-military-title-minister-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/114046\/","title":{"rendered":"King wants Andrew to lose last military title, minister says"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Noor Nanji &amp; Laura Kuenssberg<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1761830662_895_grey-placeholder.png\" class=\"sc-5340b511-0 gUePlo hide-when-no-script\" aria-label=\"image unavailable\"\/><img decoding=\"async\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/afe10db0-b7de-11f0-abe6-7701fd351490.jpg.webp.webp\" loading=\"eager\" alt=\"EPA Prince Andrew pictured during the commemorative ceremony of the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Bruges, in Brugge, Belgium, 2019&#10;\" class=\"sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA\"\/>EPA<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">The Ministry of Defence is working to remove Andrew Mountbatten Windsor&#8217;s last honorary military rank under the guidance of the King, the defence secretary has said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">John Healey said King Charles had &#8220;indicated that&#8217;s what he wishes&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Andrew, who was <a target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/articles\/cr7m4yjkp74o\" class=\"sc-f9178328-0 iCaRzc\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">stripped of his title as a prince<\/a> on Thursday, retained his rank as a Vice Admiral in the Royal Navy after giving up his other military positions in 2022.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Healey told the BBC&#8217;s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg: &#8220;This is a move that&#8217;s right, it&#8217;s a move the King has indicated we should take and we&#8217;re working on that at the moment.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Andrew spent decades in public life as a war hero and prince, but has since suffered a major fall from grace.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">The King\u2019s younger brother had a 22-year career in the Royal Navy, and served as a helicopter pilot during the Falklands War.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">He also commanded the mine countermeasures vessel HMS Cottesmore.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">This week, he lost his last remaining royal titles and privileges following months of pressure over his ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Andrew has always denied wrongdoing.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1761830662_895_grey-placeholder.png\" class=\"sc-5340b511-0 gUePlo hide-when-no-script\" aria-label=\"image unavailable\"\/><img decoding=\"async\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/7c70d570-b7d2-11f0-aa13-0b0479f6f42a.jpg.webp.webp\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"PA Media Andrew Mountbatten Windsor wearing a full military uniform marching alongside other Royal Navy personnel\" class=\"sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA\"\/>PA Media<\/p>\n<p>Andrew served in the Royal Navy for 22 years<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Speaking on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, royal author and journalist Valentine Low said this latest move, to lose his final military title, will be a &#8220;blow&#8221; to Andrew.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">&#8220;Royals, and particularly Andrew, are very proud and determined to hang onto military titles,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">&#8220;It seems the King is intent on taking absolutely everything away from his brother. It&#8217;s a flinty eyed ruthlessness he&#8217;s displaying.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">The prince had already returned his other military titles and royal patronages in 2022, and stopped using the title His Royal Highness in an official capacity, after he was accused of sexual abuse in a civil case in the US.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">He later settled the case brought against him by Virginia Giuffre, a victim of sex trafficking and abuse by Jeffrey Epstein, who alleged the prince sexually abused her when she was a teenager &#8211; something the prince has consistently denied.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\"><a target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/uk-59987935\" class=\"sc-f9178328-0 iCaRzc\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Military titles that Andrew lost at the time<\/a> included colonel of the Grenadier Guards &#8211; one of the most senior infantry regiments in the British army.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">He also lost several overseas honorary roles, including colonel-in-chief of The Royal Highland Fusiliers Of Canada, and colonel-in-chief of the Royal New Zealand Army Logistic Regiment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Noor Nanji &amp; Laura Kuenssberg EPA The Ministry of Defence is working to remove Andrew Mountbatten Windsor&#8217;s last&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":114047,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[430,156,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-114046","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114046","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114046"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114046\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/114047"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114046"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114046"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114046"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}