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The former Duke of York will lose his naval title, the defence secretary has said, as King Charles looks to draw a line under the scandal over his brother\u2019s relationship with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein<\/a>.<\/p>\n Andrew Mountbatten Windsor will be stripped of his honorary rank of vice-admiral, which he was given in 2015 and has retained even after giving up other military positions in 2022, John Healey confirmed on Sunday.<\/p>\n Healey told the BBC One\u2019s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg that ministers were working with the king to remove Mountbatten Windsor\u2019s naval honours, after the decision last week to strip him of his royal title as prince and remove him from Royal Lodge.<\/p>\n Healey said: \u201cIn general, the government has been guided by the decisions and judgments the king has made. In defence, it\u2019s exactly the same.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve seen Andrew surrender the honorary positions he\u2019s had throughout the military, and guided again by the king, we are working now to remove that last remaining title of vice-admiral that he has.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked whether Mountbatten Windsor could lose his military medals as well, Healey said they were \u201cmedals for his service\u201d, adding: \u201cI don\u2019t have an update for you on that, but just as with his vice-admiral rank and title, we would be guided by the decisions the king makes.\u201d<\/p>\n Mountbatten Windsor has been under renewed scrutiny over his ties to Epstein after the publication of posthumous memoirs<\/a> by Virginia Giuffre, who said she was forced to have sex with the former prince on three occasions, including when she was 17 and also during an orgy after being trafficked by Epstein. Mountbatten Windsor denies the allegations.<\/p>\n This weekend, it emerged<\/a> Mountbatten Windsor wrote to Epstein in 2010 after the latter was released from jail on charges of soliciting prostitution.<\/p>\n Newly released emails show the former prince told Epstein: \u201cI have no immediate plans to drop by New York but I think I should at some stage soon. I\u2019ll look and see if I can make a couple of days before the summer. It would be good to catch up in person.\u201d<\/p>\n Epstein was jailed for soliciting prostitution from a minor in July 2009. In email exchanges between the pair released on Friday, the disgraced financier suggested to Mountbatten Windsor<\/a> on 15 April 2010 that he meet the former JP Morgan executive Jes Staley, who was banned from the UK banking sector for life<\/a> in June for misleading the watchdog over his relationship with Epstein.<\/p>\n Mountbatten Windsor replied that he would not be in the UK but would \u201cmake sure I meet [Staley] soon on another trip\u201d.<\/p>\n The then-duke and Epstein were pictured together in Central Park in New York in December that year in a meeting that the former later called a \u201cwrong decision\u201d.<\/p>\n Mountbatten Windsor served in the navy for over 20 years, including as a helicopter pilot during the Falklands war. After Guiffre filed a civil case in New York three years ago, he stopped using<\/a> most of his military titles but kept hold of the rank of vice-admiral. The navy pension is his only current source of declared income, after serving between 1979 and 2001<\/a>. It is said to amount to \u00a320,000 a year.<\/p>\n