LONDON (AP) — Prince Andrew said Friday he is giving up his royal title of the Duke of York after his friendship with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein returned to the headlines.
The younger brother of King Charles III said he and the royal family had decided “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 statement said:
“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. I have decided, as I always have, to put my duty to my family and country first. I stand by my decision five years ago to stand back from public life.
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. As I have said previously, I vigorously deny the accusations against me.”
The announcement comes as excerpts have been published of an upcoming posthumous memoir from Virginia Giufffre, who has alleged she was trafficked by Epstein and had sex with Andrew when she was 17.
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‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.al.com ’
