LONDON (AP) \u2014 King Charles III on Thursday stripped his disgraced brother Prince Andrew of his remaining titles and evicted him from his royal residence after weeks of pressure to act over his relationship with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.<\/p>\n
Buckingham Palace said the king \u201cinitiated a formal process to remove the Style, Titles and Honours of Prince Andrew.\u201d <\/p>\n
After the king\u2019s rare move, Andrew will be known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor and not as a prince, and he will move from his Royal Lodge residence into \u201cprivate accommodation.\u201d <\/p>\n
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 World War I.<\/p>\n
Demand 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 new revelations about his friendship with Epstein and renewed sexual abuse allegations by one of Epstein\u2019s victims, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, whose posthumous memoir hit bookstores last week.<\/p>\n
But the king went even further to punish him for serious lapses of judgment by removing the title of prince that he has held since birth as a child of a monarch, the late Queen Elizabeth II.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese censures are deemed necessary, notwithstanding the fact that he continues to deny the allegations against him,\u201d the palace said. \u201cTheir 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
Giuffre\u2019s brother declared victory for his sister, who died by suicide in April at the age of 41.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday, an ordinary American girl from an ordinary American family, brought down a British prince with her truth and extraordinary courage,\u201d her brother Skye Roberts said in a statement.<\/p>\n
Andrew faced a new round of public opprobrium after emails emerged earlier this month showing he had remained in contact with Epstein longer than he previously admitted.<\/p>\n
That news was followed by publication of \u201cNobody\u2019s Girl,\u201d by Giuffre<\/a>, who alleged she had sex with Andrew when she was 17. The book detailed three alleged sexual encounters with Andrew, who she said acted as if he believed \u201chaving sex with me was his birthright.\u201d<\/p>\n Andrew, 65, has long denied Giuffre\u2019s claims<\/a>, but stepped down from royal duties<\/a> after a disastrous November 2019 BBC interview in which he attempted to rebut her allegations. <\/p>\n