The line of succession on the Royal Family‘s website has finally been updated to reflect the removal of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s titles, the Daily Mail can reveal.
Buckingham Palace announced on October 17 that Andrew would stop using his remaining titles and honours and would no longer be known as the Duke of York.
Three days later Andrew’s title was scrubbed out on his profile page on the royal website to reflect the loss of this dukedom over the Jeffrey Epstein sex scandal.
On October 30, it was revealed that Andrew would lose his prince title, before this was officially actioned on November 7 by the King who also removed his HRH style.
But Andrew was still listed until recently on the website’s line of succession page in eighth as ‘The Duke of York’, behind Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet of Sussex.
Now, with his public life having been effectively ended, the website has finally been updated and the line of succession entry appears as ‘Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’.
His profile page was already taken down at the start of November, with a message on royal.uk/the-duke-of-york now saying: ‘The requested page could not be found.’
It comes as a poll suggested that three quarters of Britons believe Andrew should have to give evidence to the US Congress about his links to paedophile Epstein.
Andrew and Sarah at the Duchess of Kent’s funeral at Westminster Cathedral on September 16
Before and after: The line of succession has finally been updated on the Royal Family’s website and the entry changed from ‘The Duke of York’ to ‘Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’
American legislators have criticised the King’s 65-year-old brother for ‘hiding’ from them after the former prince ignored a request to sit for a transcribed interview.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer suggested at the weekend that ‘if you have relevant information you should be prepared to share it’ after Andrew missed the November 20 response deadline given by members of the House Oversight Committee.
The King has officially stripped his disgraced brother of his prince title, and removed his dukedom from the Roll of the Peerage over Andrew’s ‘serious lapses’ of judgment.
The move followed the publication of posthumous memoirs by Andrew’s accuser Virginia Giuffre, and the US government’s release of documents from Epstein’s estate.
It emerged Andrew had emailed Epstein in 2011 saying ‘we’re in this together’, three months after he claimed he had broken all contact with the paedophile.
The former Duke of York has for many years faced allegations he sexually assaulted a teenaged Ms Giuffre after she was trafficked by Epstein. Andrew strenuously denies the accusations.
A letter signed by 16 members of Congress was sent to Andrew on November 6 requesting his co-operation with the committee’s investigation into Epstein’s sex trafficking operations.
The US politicians said their House Oversight Committee had identified ‘financial records containing notations such as ‘massage for Andrew’ that raise serious questions’.
Epstein took his own life in a New York prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking and conspiracy charges.
On October 30, Andrew’s new name as a commoner was announced as ‘Andrew Mountbatten Windsor’.
The Royal Family’s website was updated on October 20 to reflect Andrew’s loss of dukedom, renaming him from ‘Duke of York’ to ‘Prince Andrew’ – before he also lost the ‘Prince’ title
His ex-wife Sarah Ferguson no longer goes by the handle ‘SarahTheDuchess’ on her X account
But the surname was missing the hyphen decreed by Andrew’s late mother, Queen Elizabeth II, 65 years ago when she set out the arrangements for the naming of her descendants as ‘Mountbatten-Windsor’.
When asked about the absence of a hyphen, in reference to the Queen’s decision in 1960, a palace spokeswoman said at the time of the announcement confirming Andrew’s loss of his titles: ‘Andrew Mountbatten Windsor was the name agreed.’
But the palace subsequently examined the 1960 Privy Council Declaration, which includes a hyphen, and sources confirmed on November 12 that they will use a hyphen going forward.
Andrew remains a counsellor of state, but this role has previously been described as ‘inactive’.
Only ‘working members’ of the royal family would be called upon to carry out the sovereign’s duties on a temporary basis as a counsellor of state in case of illness or overseas travel.
Meanwhile Mid and East Antrim Council has this week agreed to start the process of renaming Prince Andrew Way in Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland.
The Country Antrim street was named after Andrew in 1986 to mark his wedding to Sarah Ferguson.
The council’s interim chief executive, Valerie Watts, cautioned there is no council policy for changing the name of the street and, while it is not straightforward, it is possible.
She said other agencies, such as Royal Mail, need to be consulted and council staff will do a full investigation into what is required, and bring a full report back to council.
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