Monday, October 20, 2025 - Prince Andrew will relinquish the use of his royal titles including Duke of York after discussing the matter with King Charles, he said Friday.
“In discussion with The King, and my immediate and wider
family, we have concluded the continued accusations about me distract from the
work of His Majesty and the Royal Family,” Prince Andrew said in a statement
released by Buckingham Palace.
The change will take effect immediately, a royal source told
CNN.
Prince Andrew has faced mounting public pressure over his
relationship with the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein and his links to an
alleged Chinese spy.
The prince repeated that he “vigorously” denies the
accusations against him.
Andrew stepped down from public life in 2019 after an widely
criticized interview with the BBC over his friendship with Epstein, a convicted
pedophile who took his own life in 2019 while awaiting trial in the
United States on federal charges of sexually abusing underage girls.
“With His Majesty’s agreement, we feel I must now go a step
further. I will therefore no longer use my title or the honours which have been
conferred upon me,” Andrew said on Friday.
William, Prince of Wales, and other members of the royal
family were consulted during the discussions.
Andrew’s ex-wife, Sarah, Duchess of York, will now be known
only as “Sarah Ferguson.” The titles of their daughters, Princess Beatrice and
Princess Eugenie, will not be affected by the measure.
Andrew will no longer attend any of the royal family’s
Christmas celebrations, according to a royal source.
He will continue to reside at the Royal Lodge in Windsor,
where he has a private tenancy agreement, a royal source said. He will also
retain his title as “prince” because he is the son of the late Queen Elizabeth
II.
Andrew’s much-publicized downfall began after he faced a
2015 sexual abuse lawsuit from Virginia Giuffre.
Giuffre alleged Epstein trafficked her and forced her to
have sex with his friends in 2001, including Andrew, and that the prince was
aware she was underage in the US at the time.
Giuffre also alleged Andrew sexually abused her at Epstein’s
private island in the US Virgin Islands, at his mansion in Manhattan and at his
former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell’s home in London. Maxwell was convicted in
late 2021 on sex trafficking and other charges.
As the lawsuit progressed, Andrew was stripped of
his military titles and positions on several charities.
Prince Andrew has repeatedly denied Giuffre’s allegations.
In 2022, he and Giuffre reached an out-of-court settlement.
Speaking to BBC Newsnight, Giuffre’s brother, Sky Roberts,
described his sister as a “truth-teller from the beginning.”
“We’ve shed a lot of happy and sad tears today. I think
happy because in a lot of ways this vindicates Virginia,” he said. Giuffre died
by suicide in April 2025 at age 41. A posthumous memoir described by her
publisher as “unsparing” is due to release next week.
The more than decade-long friendship between
Prince Andrew and Epstein ended in 2011, when Epstein threatened legal action
against Prince Andrew’s ex-wife.
Prince Andrew has also faced intense scrutiny over
his links to an alleged Chinese spy.
Court documents revealed the extent of Andrew’s relationship
with Yang Tengbo, who reportedly forged close ties with the prince.
In a tribunal hearing in December 2024 that upheld an
earlier decision to bar Yang from the UK, it was revealed that Yang
was authorized to act on Prince Andrew’s behalf during business meetings with
potential Chinese investors in the UK.
Throughout a government investigation into the relationship,
Yang has denied any wrongdoing
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