Prince Andrew gives up his title as Duke of York

Prince Andrew is giving up his positions, including the Duke of York, in a personal statement. He has been under growing strain over his links with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, as well as calls for Buckingham Palace to take action against him. The prince has now decided to voluntarily hand over his titles and to give up membership of the Order of the Garter, Britain's oldest and most influential order of chivalry. He continued to adamantly deny the charges against me, he said in his tweet.

We have concluded the allegations concerning me continue to distract from the Royal Family's and His Majesty's duties,

Prince Andrew said in a tweet.

I have decided to place my family and country first as I always have to do so.

I stand by my decision to step back from public life five years ago.

We feel we must now go a step farther with His Majesty's deal. I will therefore no longer be able to use my name or the awards that have been bestowed upon me. I vehemently deny the charges against me, as I have stated before.

His decision to refrain from using his titles was made in consultation with Prince of Wales, William, Prince of Cornwall, and the King. He will continue to be a prince, but will no longer be the Duke of York, a title inherited from his mother, late Queen Elizabeth. Prince Andrew had already been a working prince and had lost his HRH badge, and he no longer appeared at formal royal functions. His job will now be even more limited. He is expected to remain in his Windsor home, Royal Lodge, on which he has his own private lease, which runs until 2078. His ex-wife will be named Sarah Ferguson and no longer Duchess of York, but their children will continue to be crowned princesses. Over the past few years, the prince has faced a string of scandals, including a court case against him, concerns about his finances, and his suspected Chinese spy service. The uproar surrounding the prince had sparked in Buckingham Palace as a result of the scandals.

Ms Giuffre's posthumous memoir, which took her own life earlier this year, will be published next week. Prince Andrew's relationship with her and Epstein is expected to draw further attention. Ms Giuffre said she was one of many young girls and young women who had been sexually assaulted by Epstein and his circle of wealthy acquaintances. At Ms Giuffre's house in London in 2001, she said the prince had sex with her at his friend Ghislaine Maxwell's home in London. In Epstein's townhoUSe in New York and on Epstein-owned island in the United States Virgin Islands, she focUSes on two other occasions in which she claims she had sex with Prince Andrew. After she had brought a civil lawsuit against him, the prince made a financial settlement with Ms Giuffre inan out-of-court agreement in 2022. He denies all of the allegations made against him.

Ms Giuffre's brother, Sky Roberts, said the news had mixed emotions after learning that Andrew was resigning his titles, but that his late sister would be very proud of the growth, according to BBC Newsnight. We've shed a lot of happy and sad tears today.I'm happy because in a lot of ways this vindicates Virginia,he said.All the years of hard work she put in is now coming to some sort of punishment, and these monsters can't escape from it - the truth will find its way out.

This is the moment when survivors are no longer quiet,

he said.

It's just a joyful moment for them because we're finally getting some sense of acknowledgement, like, 'this really happened, what we'd say is the truth,'

Mr Roberts said. There's so much more to be done, Trump said, especially here in the United States. Any individual named

should have some degree of responsibility and accountability for these people,

Mr Roberts said, and that he would welcome any contact from the King or members of parliament. Prince Andrew has been put into shaming over his links with disgraced financier Epstein, as well as questions regarding when he had actually cut off contact. Prince Andrew said in a now-famous BBC Newsnight interview in 2019, that he had broken all links with Epstein after being photographed together in New York in December 2010. However, emails sent in February 2011 revealed that he had secretly kept in touch with Epstein, including a note that read: "Keep in touch and we'll play some more soon.

Haley Robson, Epstein's lawyer, told BBC Newsnight that it was a bittersweet moment. Ms Robson said Ms Giuffre

started this fight and we're going to see it through,

adding that

I really wish she had been here to see all of what she started

asI'm sure she did.

Having him [Prince Andrew] step down and strip his titles is something that has long awaited, and it is very fitting, and kudos to King Charles,

Ms Robson said. However, royal biographer Andrew Lownie argued that the

statement should have come from the King. He said on BBC Breakfast that a

firmer line should have been taken.

If Andrew was putting his family and his country first, he would have moved out of Royal Lodge years ago and may have stood down many years ago,

Mr Lownie wrote Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York. "In a High Court decision, Andrew Withdrew from Royal Family functions last Christmas after an alleged Chinese spy who was connected to was revealed. Nothing confidential had ever been discussed with Yang Tengbo, also known as Chris Yang, who became a close advisor on Andrew's company ventures, according to his office. Andrew was repeatedly named in a court dispute between a Turkish millionaire and her former business advisor in 2022. There were no allegations of wrongdoing by the prince, but the court case highlighted him as receiving payments in a complex series of financial transactions. By the prince, a donation of £750,000 was returned to the Turkish millionaire.

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