Prince Andrew, the British royal with ties to Jeffrey Epstein<\/a>, has been stripped of his remaining titles and evicted from his royal residence, as Buckingham Palace faces mounting pressure to address his associations with the late sex offender.<\/p>\n In a statement Thursday, Buckingham Palace said<\/a> that King Charles \u201chas today initiated a formal process to remove the style, titles and honours\u201d of his younger brother, who should now be referred to as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor. The palace said the former prince will also have to move out of the Royal Lodge mansion near Windsor Castle.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The removal of Andrew\u2019s Prince title, which he has held since birth as the son of the late Queen Elizabeth II<\/a>, comes after he had already given up<\/a> his Duke of York title and his other honors earlier this month. But his association with Epstein attracted renewed attention after the recent publication of a posthumous memoir by one of Epstein\u2019s victims, Virginia Giuffre, who alleged forced sexual encounters with Andrew when she was a teen, which the British royal has repeatedly denied.<\/p>\n Buckingham Palace said, \u201cthese censures are deemed necessary, notwithstanding the fact that he continues to deny the allegations against him.\u201d It added: \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 Royal historian Kate Williams described King Charles\u2019 action against Andrew as a \u201chuge moment in royal history<\/a>.\u201d The last time a prince or a princess was stripped of their royal title was in 1919.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Here\u2019s what to know.<\/p>\n Several<\/a> outlets cite<\/a> palace sources saying that Andrew\u2019s \u201cserious lapses of judgement\u201d have been a source of anxiety for a Buckingham Palace rocked by scandals in recent years.<\/p>\n Andrew has faced intense scrutiny over his relationship with Epstein. In a disastrous 2019 interview with the BBC<\/a>, he asserted that he stopped all contact with the disgraced financier in December 2010. Days later, Andrew announced that he would step back from royal duties<\/a> in what some assumed to be damage control.<\/p>\n In January 2025, however, Bloomberg News obtained a legal filing<\/a> showing that Epstein had been in contact with Andrew at least through email until February 2011. The filing reportedly showed emails where the two discussed press reports, and Andrew wrote they should \u201ckeep in close touch and we\u2019ll play some more soon!!!!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Earlier this month, British media<\/a> further reported<\/a> on that exchange, which came after a 2001 photo of him and a young Giuffre at the London townhouse of Epstein\u2019s then-girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell was first published. \u201cI\u2019m just as concerned for you! Don’t worry about me! It would seem we are in this together and will have to rise above it,\u201d the Feb. 28 email reportedly said, which was signed off with \u201cA, HRH The Duke of York, KG.\u201d The email reportedly came from Andrew\u2019s official email address.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The scandal escalated after excerpts<\/a> of the memoir by Giuffre, who died by suicide earlier this year<\/a>, revealed that she had sex with Andrew three times, with the third time in an \u201corgy\u201d on an island Epstein owned in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Andrew had claimed he did not even remember meeting Giuffre in the 2019 BBC interview, and his lawyers have tried to get a civil suit she filed in 2021<\/a> dismissed. (In early 2022, an out-of-court million-dollar settlement had been reached<\/a> between Andrew\u2019s and Giuffre\u2019s camps, without Andrew admitting liability.)<\/p>\n \u201c\u2018I was around 18,\u2019 I said in a sworn declaration in 2015,\u201d Giuffre wrote in Nobody\u2019s Girl: A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice<\/em>, which was published Oct. 21. \u201c\u2018Epstein, Andy, and approximately eight other young girls and I had sex together. The other girls all appeared to be under the age of 18 and didn\u2019t really speak English. Epstein laughed about how they couldn\u2019t really communicate, saying they are the easiest girls to get along with.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n She also reflected on how Andrew allegedly behaved during their sexual encounters. \u201cIn the years since, I\u2019ve thought a lot about how he behaved. He was friendly enough, but still entitled\u2013as if he believed having sex with me was his birthright,\u201d Giuffre wrote.<\/p>\n With Andrew\u2019s Epstein-related controversies proving an unwelcome distraction from the British royal family\u2019s work, he gave up his Duke of York title and other honors on Oct. 17, a decision he reportedly<\/a> made with consultation from King Charles.<\/p>\n But another issue quickly followed, this time, centered on his living arrangements. The Times<\/em> of London published a report on Oct. 21<\/a> that found Andrew\u2019s lease agreement on the Royal Lodge, a 30-room property that his family moved into in 2004 and was set to live in until 2078, only required him to pay an annual rent of \u201cone peppercorn (if demanded)\u201d after he had paid at least \u00a38.5 million (more than $11 million) upfront, prompting rare questioning from the British parliament<\/a>. Fanning the flame was an Oct. 27 BBC report<\/a> that revealed Andrew hosted Epstein, Maxwell, and disgraced film producer Harvey Weinstein at the Royal Lodge during his daughter\u2019s 18th birthday celebration in 2006.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Earlier this week, while King Charles was visiting Lichfield Cathedral, a heckler screamed<\/a>, \u201cHow long have you known about Andrew and Epstein?\u201d and \u201cHave you asked the police to cover up for Andrew?\u201d<\/p>\n An unnamed royal source told the Telegraph<\/em><\/a> <\/em>that King Charles \u201cacted swiftly\u201d after revelations of Andrew\u2019s ties to Epstein, but he recognized that there was a need to have a longer-term solution. The broadsheet reported that the decision to strip him of his title followed almost two weeks of negotiations before Andrew agreed to it on Thursday. The paper also reported that William, Prince of Wales, who is next in the line of succession, was \u201cfully supportive\u201d of how his father handled the issue over his uncle, citing an unnamed Kensington Palace source.<\/p>\n Andrew henceforth no longer has the Prince title, and the order also applies to his other titles of Duke of York, Earl of Inverness, Baron Killyleagh, and the style \u201cHis Royal Highness.\u201d The honors affected are his Order of the Garter and Knight Grand Cross of the Victorian Order.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n It is very rare for princes and princesses to lose their titles. King Henry VIII removed the princess titles of his daughters\u2014later Queens Mary I and Elizabeth I\u2014after he annulled his marriages with their mothers. And, in 1919, under the Titles Deprivation Act of 1917, Prince Ernest Augustus, Duke of Cumberland and Teviotdale, a Prince of Hanover and of the U.K., had his British title removed<\/a> after having sided with the Germans during World War I.<\/p>\n In 1936, just months after ascending to the throne, King Edward VIII abdicated to marry divorced American socialite Wallis Simpson<\/a>. He kept the title Duke of Windsor but lived in exile outside Britain.<\/p>\n Williams, the historian, told Sky News that Andrew\u2019s situation was unique given how \u201che\u2019s lost his title as a consequence of \u2026\u00a0 \u2018errors of judgement.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, Andrew\u2019s daughters, will retain their titles under King George V\u2019s Letters Patent of 1917<\/a>, as children of the sons of a sovereign.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Andrew remains eighth in the line of succession<\/a> to the throne, though he may be removed by an Act of Parliament<\/a> and the consent of the 14 other countries<\/a> that are part of the realm of the U.K. monarchy.\u00a0<\/p>\n As for his lodging, Andrew is set to relocate to a property on the Sandringham estate in Norfolk, according to the Telegraph<\/em>, while his ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, who continued to live at Royal Lodge with Andrew even after their 1996 divorce, will need to sort out her own living arrangements. Until this month, Ferguson had used the title Duchess of York, but said she will revert to using her name after Andrew was stripped of his Duke of York title.<\/p>\n The strongest response came from Giuffre\u2019s family. \u201cHe\u2019s just Andrew, he\u2019s no longer a Prince, and she is celebrating from the heavens right now,\u201d Sky Roberts, Giuffre\u2019s brother, tearily told the BBC in an interview<\/a>. \u201cThis normal girl from a normal family has taken down a prince. We are so proud of her.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n At the same time, Roberts said Andrew ought to face more consequences. \u201cHe needs to be behind bars\u2014period,\u201d Roberts said.<\/p>\n Roberts\u2019 wife Amanda added that this was \u201ctruly a moment for [Giuffre] and all survivors,\u201d but she also suggested that the U.S. government should do more. Congressional Democrats released partial records of Epstein-related files<\/a> in September, which showed the late sex offender had ties with prominent figures globally, including Prince Andrew.\u00a0<\/p>\nHow did Prince Andrew get here?<\/h2>\n
Impact on the royal family<\/h2>\n
Giuffre\u2019s family\u2019s reaction<\/h2>\n