Perhaps the question is not why now, but why it hadn’t happened sooner.
In a move that cements his banishment from royal life, Prince Andrew announced he was relinquishing the use of his royal titles and honors, and would no longer be known as the Duke of York.
The decision, announced Friday, was made in close consultation with Britain’s King Charles III, who is believed to be glad at the outcome, while Prince William and other members of the royal family were also consulted on the discussions, CNN understands
Along with his statement, Andrew also continued to once again “vigorously deny the accusations against me.”
Dukedom is the highest rank in the British peerage, and the title was given to Andrew on the morning of his wedding to ex-wife Sarah Ferguson by his mother, the late Queen Elizabeth II. The announcement on Friday evening draws a line once and for all, without having to go through the messy machinations of a parliamentary intervention, which would have been required to remove the dukedom.
The relinquishment of such a title within the British royal family is incredibly rare.
The last instance is understood to be over 100 years ago, when Prince Charles Edward, who was 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 for fighting for Germany, where he was Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, during World War IAndrew still retains the title “prince,” bestowed on him at birth as the son of the then reigning monarch. But he is giving up all other titles conferred on him in honor by the royal family. For a man who clearly relishes his status, this is no small loss.
Andrew stepped down from public life in 2019 following a disastrous BBC interview in which he was questioned about his friendship with disgraced financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Three years later, in 2022, he stopped using the style His Royal Highness, or HRH, and was stripped of his military titles and charity patronages.
Yet the fallout from his association with Epstein, who died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial in the United States on federal charges of sexually abusing underage girls, has continued to plague him.
Friday’s decision is thought to be Andrew’s own, and was made in recognition of the fact that his personal issues continue to be a distraction from the wider work of the royal family, his statement Friday said.
While it appears to have been his choice, he – and the rest of the Windsor clan – were facing mounting pressure to resolve the situation. CNN historian and royal expert Kate Williams said Andrew had become “toxic to the royal brand.
“This is a signal that… we will not see him in family events, we are not going to see him when there’s a big celebration for King Charles’s 80th birthday in a couple of years; Andrew is out of the fold,” she said.
“The question is, is this enough to stop the backlash overall tainting the royal family?”
Williams believes a question mark now hangs over Andrew’s continued residence in the Royal Lodge, a 30-room mansion in Windsor, although he has a private tenancy agreement for the property with the Crown Estate which has not been affected by the change in use of titles and honors, according to a royal source.
The thorny issue of what do with Andrew has loomed over the King since he ascended to the throne in 2022.
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