Andrew is first British prince to be stripped of a title in more than 100 years
Andrew, the younger brother of Britain's King Charles, began Friday without the title of "prince."
Now known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, the former Duke of York is also set to be evicted from Royal Lodge, his home of 20 years on the Windsor estate. This comes as the Royal Family makes another attempt to overcome the scandal over Andrew's links to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Buckingham Palace has described the move as “necessary censures."
The removal of titles is not unprecedented, but it is the first in the modern era.
The last time a prince had his title removed is understood to be more than 100 years ago, when Prince Charles Edward – one of Queen Victoria’s grandsons – had the title of Duke of Albany stripped from him by the British parliament under the Titles Deprivation Act 1917. The action was taken after he fought in World War I for Germany, where he was Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.
Andrew, 65, had faced 15 years of on-and-off controversy over his friendship with Epstein that had reached a new intensity after the release of a posthumous memoir by Virginia Giuffre, who alleged that Andrew had sexually assaulted her as a teenager.
Giuffre – who the prince claims never to have met – died by suicide in April at the age of 41. Andrew has repeatedly denied all allegations against him.
