King strips Andrew of Garter and Royal Victorian Order honours

The King has officially stripped his brother Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor of his prestigious Order of the Garter and Royal Victorian Order honours.

Charles directed that Andrew’s titles should be “cancelled and annulled” and his name “erased” from the historic orders’ registers.

The disgraced former prince was previously made a Knight Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter in 2006 and a Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order in 2011 by his mother the late Queen Elizabeth II.

Andrew has already been stripped of his birthright to be a prince and an HRH and had his Duke of York title removed from the Roll of the Peerage by Charles for his “serious lapses of judgment” over his friendship with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

The entry in The Gazette, the UK’s official public record, on Monday, under the heading Central Chancery of the Orders of Knighthood, read: “THE KING has directed that the appointment of Andrew Albert Christian Edward MOUNTBATTEN-WINDSOR to be a Knight Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, dated 23 April 2006, shall be cancelled and annulled and that his name shall be erased from the Register of the said Order.

“THE KING has directed that the appointment of Andrew Albert Christian Edward MOUNTBATTEN-WINDSOR to be a Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order, dated 19 February 2011, shall be cancelled and annulled and that his name shall be erased from the Register of the said Order.

The former duke has for many years faced allegations that he sexually assaulted a teenage Virginia Giuffre after she was trafficked by Epstein. Andrew strenuously denies the accusations.

He paid millions to Ms Giuffre to settle a civil sexual assault claim in 2022.

He stepped down from royal duties in 2019 after his disastrous Newsnight interview, but the publication of Ms Giuffre’s posthumous memoirs, and the US government’s release of documents from Epstein’s estate has brought fresh focus on Andrew in recent weeks.

American politicians have also criticised the former prince for his “silence” after he missed a deadline last month to respond to their request to sit for an interview about Epstein.

The Order of the Garter is the country’s oldest and most senior Order of Chivalry and the honour is awarded in recognition of public service – with recipients personally chosen by the monarch.

The Royal Victorian Order is also in the personal gift of the sovereign and recognises service to the monarch.

Andrew remains a vice-admiral in the Royal Navy despite the Government pledging to remove the honorary rank.

He is set to move from Royal Lodge in Windsor to the King’s private Sandringham estate in Norfolk at some point in the new year, completing his internal exile.