The Duke of York has been stripped of his military titles and
royal patronages, as confirmed by Buckingham Palace on Thursday night.
The palace statement read: “With
The Queen’s approval and agreement, The Duke of York’s military affiliations
and Royal patronages have been returned to The Queen. The Duke of York will
continue not to undertake any public duties and is defending this case as a
private citizen.”
A royal source also says
Prince Andrew, 61, will no longer use the style ‘His Royal Highness’ in any
official capacity. It comes as the Duke faces US civil action over sexual
assault allegations in the case brought in New York by Virginia Giuffre. Andrew
has denied all allegations.
The Duke is now no longer
Colonel of the Grenadier Guards – one of the most senior infantry regiments in
the British Army, having been stripped of his honorary affiliations with the
armed forces.
The other British honorary
titles he has lost are: Honorary air commodore of RAF Lossiemouth;
Colonel-in-chief of the Royal Irish Regiment; Colonel-in-chief of the Small
Arms School Corps; Commodore-in-Chief of the Fleet Air Arm; Royal colonel of
the Royal Highland Fusiliers, 2nd Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Scotland;
Deputy colonel-in-chief of The Royal Lancers (Queen Elizabeth’s Own); and
Colonel-in-chief of the Yorkshire Regiment.
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Andrew pictured being driven from Windsor on Thursday |
In November 2019 after
Andrew stepped down from public duties following his BBC Newsnight interview, a
palace spokeswoman said of his then-230 patronages: “He will be stepping
back from public duty and temporarily standing back from all his
patronages.”
More than 90 organizations
still appear on the official website in the list of the Duke’s charities and
patronages, including hospital trusts, sports associations and schools.
Andrew was pictured for
the first time on Thursday morning as he was driven in a Range Rover from his
Windsor home, Royal Lodge.
It came after US Judge
Lewis Kaplan dismissed a notion by Prince Andrew’s lawyers to have the civil
case thrown out after they argued Ms. Giuffre had waived her right to pursue
the Duke by signing a confidential settlement with convicted sex offender
Jeffrey Epstein.
