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Buckingham Palace announced Thursday that Prince Andrew will be stripped of all royal titles, including prince \u2014 a formal move initiated by King Charles III. <\/p>\n
Moving forward, Andrew will be known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, using the surname given to members of the House of Windsor. <\/p>\n
Andrew, the younger brother to King Charles, has faced heightened scrutiny this fall over his relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein<\/a>. Andrew has repeatedly denied all accusations stemming from his link to Epstein.<\/p>\n \u201cHis Majesty has today initiated a formal process to remove the style, titles and honors of Prince Andrew,\u201d said a statement<\/a> from Buckingham Palace. <\/p>\n His daughters, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, will maintain their titles, as they are children of the son of a sovereign, under King George V\u2019s Letters Patent of 1917<\/a>. <\/p>\n Andrew will also be evicted from his sprawling, 30-bedroom<\/a> Windsor estate, Royal Lodge, and move to a private residence provided by Charles. A \u201cformal notice\u201d has been served to Andrew, demanding he \u201csurrender the lease\u201d on his royal property, Buckingham Palace said. <\/p>\n \u201cThese censures are deemed necessary, notwithstanding the fact that he continues to deny the allegations against him,\u201d added the statement from Buckingham Palace. <\/p>\n \u201cTheir Majesties wish to make clear that their thoughts and utmost sympathies have been, and will remain with, the victims and survivors of any and all forms of abuse.\u201d <\/p>\n The motion to completely strip Andrew of his titles comes less than two weeks after the disgraced prince announced<\/a> he would voluntarily give up his royal titles \u2014 while maintaining the title of prince \u2014 over his ongoing connection to the Epstein scandals. <\/p>\n \u201cIn 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,\u201d Andrew wrote in a personal statement<\/a>. \u201cI will therefore no longer use my title or the honours which have been conferred upon me.\u201d <\/p>\n He added that he continues to \u201cvigorously deny the accusations against me.\u201d<\/p>\n In November 2019, Andrew stepped down from his role as a working royal for the \u201cforeseeable future,\u201d he said in a statement<\/a> at the time. He noted that his entanglement in the Epstein scandal had become a \u201cmajor disruption\u201d to the royal family and its \u201cvaluable work.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI continue to unequivocally regret my ill-judged association with Jeffrey Epstein,\u201d he added. \u201cI deeply sympathise with everyone who has been affected and wants some form of closure. I can only hope that, in time, they will be able to rebuild their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n Since stepping down, Andrew has made no public appearances other than a handful of family events, such as funerals and birthdays.<\/p>\n Andrew has been sucked into several scandals over his ties to Epstein. Recently, a posthumous memoir from Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre alleges sexual interactions with Andrew while she was still a minor, per CBS News<\/a>.<\/p>\n In a 2022 lawsuit, Andrew denied all allegations from Giuffre and they settled.<\/p>\n