Queen Elizabeth strips Prince Andrew of royal and military titles
Prince Andrew was stripped of his military and royal titles Thursday — a day after a Manhattan judge allowed the sexual assault lawsuit against the disgraced royal to move forward.
“With The Queen’s approval and agreement, The Duke of York’s military affiliations and Royal patronages have been returned to The Queen,” Buckingham Palace said of the 61-year-old prince.
A royal source confirmed that Andrew would no longer use the title “His Royal Highness” in any official capacity and his other roles would be distributed among other members of the royal family. He is, however, still listed on the royal family’s official website as ninth in line to the throne.
“The Duke of York will continue not to undertake any public duties and is defending this case as a private citizen,” the palace said of the sex-assault lawsuit against him.
Prince Charles and Prince William reportedly demanded that Prince Andrew be exiled to ensure the “survival” of the royal family, according to The Daily Mail.
“This is about the survival of the institution at all costs. Always has been and always will be,” a senior palace source told the outlet.
The move to cast out Prince Andrew came in a “ruthless” bid to distance the royal family from the scandal, another palace source said.
“The removal of titles and patronages means the institution can now legitimately say it is not involved,” the source said. “It was a ruthless and swift decision which will have been recommended by the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Cambridge and sanctioned by the Queen.”
Andrew’s monarch mom had already barred her middle son from performing royal duties amid the severe backlash sparked by his disastrous 2019 BBC interview justifying his friendship with pedophile Jeffrey Epstein and now-convicted madam Ghislaine Maxwell.
The prince, a former Royal Navy helicopter pilot who flew in the 1982 Falklands War, initially retained his military titles.
They included vice admiral of the Royal Navy and honorary colonel of the Grenadier Guards, the stoic soldiers famed for guarding Buckingham Palace in their distinctive bearskin hats and red tunics.
The Queen’s decision Thursday followed mounting calls for Andrew to finally lose those titles.
This week, more than 150 veterans signed an open letter calling for the move, saying he had brought the armed services he represented into disrepute.
“We understand that he is your son, but … please do not leave it any longer,” the letter urged the Queen, who is head of the British armed forces.
“All of us have served our country and are proud to have done so. For that reason, we are particularly upset and angry that Prince Andrew remains a member of the armed forces and continues to hold military titles,” the veterans wrote.
“Officers of the British armed forces must adhere to the very highest standards of probity, honesty and honorable conduct. These are standards which Prince Andrew has fallen well short of,” the letter said.
“We are therefore asking that you take immediate steps to strip Prince Andrew of all his military ranks and titles and, if necessary, that he be dishonorably discharged.”
Thursday’s announcement also came a day after Andrew lost his bid to dismiss a sex assault lawsuit filed by Virginia Roberts Giuffre in Manhattan federal court.
A source close to the prince told The Post Thursday that he was “unsurprised by the ruling” Wednesday given the way the judge had greeted their arguments with “robustness” at an earlier hearing.
The scandal and court case will likely hurt public support of the monarchy in the UK, Diane Clehane, an expert on the British royal family, told The Post.
“It’s quite disastrous,” said Clehane, author of “Diana: The Secrets of her Style.”
“In my view, 2022 will be one of the worst years the royals will face.”
Prince Andrew’s loss of accolades also comes two years after Prince Harry gave up his military and “His Royal Highness” titles and moved to the US with his wife, Meghan Markle.
“If the royals have proven anything over the centuries, it’s that they are very much people who understand the importance of adaptation. But this has been an extraordinary amount of change for them to contend with in a short amount of time,” said Clehane.
“This Andrew mess — and his lame excuses — has put a white-hot spotlight on the royal family,” she said. “I believe the monarchy will survive but it may look very different after this, and so will its key players.”
The source also stressed that “it was not a judgment on the merits of Ms. Giuffre’s allegations.”
“This is a marathon, not a sprint, and the Duke will continue to defend himself against these claims,” the source said.
Giuffre, now 38, has long claimed that Epstein and Maxwell made her have “disgusting” sex with the royal three times, starting in 2001 when she was just 17.
Andrew’s lawyers insist he “unequivocally denies Giuffre’s false allegations against him.”
He has never been charged criminally, but the lawsuit is set to go to trial in Manhattan federal court later this year.
With Post wires
