King Charles Has Stripped His Brother, Prince Andrew, Of His Prince Title Over Ties To US Sex Offender Jeffrey Epstein
Buckingham Palace said on Thursday, Oct. 30, that it had begun a formal process to remove the “style, titles and honors of Prince Andrew.”
King Charles has taken the extraordinary step of stripping his brother, Prince Andrew, of his title as a prince over Andrew’s ties to the late American sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Buckingham Palace said on Thursday, Oct. 30, that it had begun a formal process to remove the “style, titles and honors of Prince Andrew.”
In a statement, it said that 65-year-old Andrew will now be known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor and that he will be evicted from his residence, the Royal Lodge and moved to a private house.
Pressure had been building for years ever since Andrew’s connection and friendship with Epstein, a pedophile and convicted US sex offender and sex trafficker, came to light.
In March 2001, one of Epstein’s victims, Virginia Giuffre, previously Virginia Roberts, said in March 2001 that Andrew had raped her on three separate occasions when she was underage and trafficked by Epstein.
However, Andrew consistently denied these allegations, saying he did not remember meeting her.
Throughout the years, Andrew continue to maintain a relationship with Epstein despite publicly claiming he had cut ties.
He was photographed walking through Central Park with Epstein after Epstein’s release from prison for pleading guilty to prostituting minors, and was revealed to have continued to send questionable emails to Epstein, who died by suicide in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges.
Andrew’s connections with Epstein had already led him to step down as UK trade envoy in 2011 and suspend all royal duties "for the foreseeable future” in November 2020.
Just a week earlier on Oct. 17, Andrew had officially given up his royal titles after discussions with the King.
The decision, which he reportedly made voluntarily, meant he would no longer publicly use titles like Duke of York, Knight of the Garter, Earl of Inverness or Baron Kilkeel.
At the time, he was to remain Prince and keep his dukedom as this could only be stripped from by order of Parliament.
However, public pressure continued to mount with Guiffre’s memoir being published on Oct. 21 and lawmakers continuing to call for him to formally have his titles removed.
In its statement, Buckingham Palace said it deemed the censures necessary notwithstanding the fact that Andrew continues to deny the allegations against him.
It said the royal family “wish 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.”
Ikran Dahir
Sofia Hou
