Prince Andrew was on Thursday stripped of his royal titles and evicted from the royal residence by King Charles III, and will now be known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor. The move comes after weeks of intense pressure to take action over Andrew’s alleged links with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
After this rare move, Andrew will no longer be a prince and will also have to vacate his Royal Lodge mansion near Windsor Castle, where he lives with his ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson. He is expected to move to the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk County, which is privately owned by King Charles III. The Associated Press reported that Andrew would receive private financial support from the King.
Who is Prince Andrew?
Andrew was born into a life of royal privilege as the second son of the late Queen Elizabeth II and the younger brother of King Charles III.
He was married to Sarah Ferguson, who is no longer known as the Duchess of York after the prince gave up his title of Duke of York earlier this month. They have two daughters, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie.
He also served in the Royal Navy for 22 years and worked as a helicopter pilot during the 1982 Falklands War. He later took command of the mine countermeasures ship HMS Cottesmore. His military roles were suspended after he withdrew from public duties in 2019.
Why did Prince Andrew lose royal title
Andrew has been under mounting pressure recently over his alleged links to Epstein. Amid renewed sexual abuse allegations through a posthumous memoir by one of Epstein’s victims, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, there have been growing calls for the prince to be removed from Royal Lodge.
Andrew reportedly first met Epstein in 1999 through the late financier’s then-girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell.
In 2008, Epstein was convicted in the United States for procuring a minor for prostitution and sentenced to 18 months in prison.
Even after his conviction, the two were seen together in 2010 walking in New York’s Central Park. Andrew later said this meeting marked the end of their friendship.
However, UK court documents made public earlier this year showed that an email was sent to Epstein in February 2011 “from a member of the British royal family,” believed to be Andrew. It read: “Keep in close touch and we’ll play some more soon !!!!”
In August 2021, Giuffre filed a case against Andrew, accusing him of sexually assaulting her three times, twice when she was 17. In her memoir Nobody’s Girl, published earlier this month, Giuffre wrote that Epstein had trafficked her and forced her to have sex with Andrew on three occasions.
A joint letter by Giuffre and Andrew’s lawyers submitted to a US court in February 2022 revealed that both sides had reached an out-of-court settlement to resolve her civil lawsuit. Andrew, without admitting any wrongdoing, agreed to pay an undisclosed amount. AFP reported that the payment exceeded $12 million (£9 million).
In January 2022, Queen Elizabeth II stripped Andrew of his military titles and royal patronages after he failed to have Giuffre’s 2021 civil case dismissed.
With inputs from agencies
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.hindustantimes.com ’
