Britain’s Prince Andrew said yesterday he would give up using his title of Duke of York following years of criticism about his behaviour and connections to the late US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The reputation of Andrew, the younger brother of King Charles and second son of the late Queen Elizabeth, has taken a battering in recent years, most notably because of his links to Epstein.
But a court ruling last year also revealed that one of his close business associates was thought by the British government to be a Chinese spy. Andrew at the time said he had stopped all contact with the individual.
In a statement yesterday, Andrew said “the continued accusations about me” distracted from the work of his elder brother King Charles and the wider work of the British royal family.
“I have decided, as I always have, to put my duty to my family and country first. I stand by my decision five years ago to stand back from public life,” Andrew said.
“With His Majesty’s agreement, we feel I must now go a step further. I will therefore no longer use the title or the honours which have been conferred upon me. As I have said previously, I vigorously deny the accusations against me.”
Andrew, 65, the eighth-in-line to the throne, was once regarded as a dashing naval officer and served in the military during the Falklands War with Argentina in the early 1980s.
But he was forced to step down from a roving UK trade ambassador role in 2011, before quitting all royal duties in 2019 and then was stripped of his military links and royal patronages in 2022 amid allegations of sexual misconduct which he has always denied.
According to a recent poll by YouGov, 67 per cent of Britons supported stripping Andrew of his remaining royal titles, with 13pc opposing the move. A separate survey found only 5pc of respondents had a favourable view of him.
Andrew, who had already given up being called “His Royal Highness”, still remains a prince and will continue to live in Royal Lodge, a large property on the estate surrounding Windsor Castle, a historic royal palace to the west of London.
However, he will no longer attend the annual royal Christmas get-togethers at Sandringham, the royal home in eastern England.
His daughters Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie will be unaffected, but his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson will also no longer be known as the Duchess of York.
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