Prince Andrew renounced his royal peerage and titles on Friday, after facing pressure from King Charles following further revelations about his relationship with US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
This means he will no longer be referred to as the Duke of York.
The prince has already had his duties scaled back following an interview that aired in 2016 where he discussed his relationship with Epstein and further in 2022 during a civil sexual abuse case brought against him by Virginia Giuffre.
Prince Andrew has long denied the assault accusations.
With Giuffre’s memoir to be released posthumously the prince has taken further steps back from royal life.
But the second son of the late Queen Elizabeth still remains a prince and in the line of succession, despite calls for his remaining title to be stripped.
So what exactly does it mean for him and how could that happen?
Prince Andrew surrendered his dukedom
The only way a person can be forced to give up a hereditary peerage, like a dukedom, is by an act of parliament.
This has not been done in more than 100 years.
This week, however, Prince Andrew released a statement saying he had chosen to give up his titles and honours in order to not distract “from the work of His Majesty and the Royal Family”.
“I stand by my decision five years ago to stand back from public life,” he wrote.
“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.”
He retained both the Duke of York and Knight of the Order of the Garter after he stepped back from public duty in 2019, while cooperating with investigations into his former friend Jeffrey Epstein.
In 2022, he was stripped of his military titles while defending a civil sexual abuse case brought against him by Virginia Giuffre and his military affiliations and royal patronages were returned to the Queen.
He was also no longer referred to as His Royal Highness.
However, the titles he managed to hold onto until now — the Duke of York and Order of the Garter — were very high honours.
The Order of the Garter is the oldest and most senior Order of Chivalry in Britain, the royal family’s website explains.
The Duke of York is traditionally given to the second son of English monarchs.
As the son of the late Queen Elizabeth II, he retains the title of prince.
Why now?
British media have recently been scrutinising the prince after it published excerpts from the memoir of Ms Giuffre.
Ms Giuffre, who died by suicide earlier this year, had previously alleged she was forced to have sex with Prince Andrew as a minor in 2001 — a claim he has repeatedly denied throughout the years.
In her new book, she repeated the allegation, writing the prince was “entitled — as if he believed having sex with me was his birthright”.
The extract came days after British tabloids claimed to have confirmed the prince sent an email to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein saying “it seems we’re in this together”.
London police are also probing whether Prince Andrew asked an officer assigned to him as a bodyguard to dig up dirt on sexual assault accuser Virginia Giuffre.
The Metropolitan Police said it was “actively looking into” media reports that Andrew in 2011 sought information to smear Ms Giuffre by asking an officer on the force to find out if she had a criminal record.
Could he lose the title of prince?
There have been calls for Andrew to lose his princedom, but that can only be done by the monarch.
King Charles can use a legal document called letters patent to revoke titles like prince or princess.
According to the UK House of Commons, letters patent are authorised by the monarch which can make public appointments, confer honours, grant city status or signify royal assent to legislation.
Virginia Giuffre’s brother Sky Roberts told Britain’s ITV news that he believes King Charles should take this step.
“Now, for the king, I think there’s more that he could do. He does have the ability to strip him even further of the prince title, which we would call upon,” he said.
“I want to commend the king and I want to commend the UK for taking some action.”
Anti-monarchy group Republic UK has launched a campaign for a parliamentary inquiry and criminal investigations into the Prince Andrew’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, urging supporters to write letters to their local MPs.
Meanwhile in the UK Parliament, pressure is also mounting with the UK Guardian reporting that Labour Peer Goerge Foulkes has written to the Lords of Commons and Clerks asking them to review a rule barring peers and MPs from asking questions about the royals.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.abc.net.au ’
