The British royal family has stripped Jeffrey Epstein’s former friend of his last titles
British King Charles III has stripped his brother Prince Andrew of his remaining titles and evicted him from his royal residence due to sexual assault allegations and his close friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
According to the royal family, the former prince will from now on be known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor and must vacate the Royal Lodge mansion near Windsor Castle, where he has lived for more than 20 years. Andrew, who surrendered his use of the title Duke of York earlier this month, will move to “alternative private accommodation,” Buckingham Palace said on Thursday.
“These censures are deemed necessary, notwithstanding the fact that he continues to deny the allegations against him. Their Majesties wish to make clear that their thoughts and utmost sympathies have been, and will remain with, the victims and survivors of any and all forms of abuse,” the statement said.
According to the BBC, Andrew remains eighth in line to the British throne despite losing his titles.
In 2022, Andrew settled a civil lawsuit with US activist Virginia Giuffre, who alleged that he raped her three times in 2001 when she was 17 years old. Giuffre, who committed suicide in April, claimed that Epstein and his girlfriend, British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, had trafficked her to the royal. Andrew maintained that the alleged incidents “never happened” and insisted that he was unaware of Epstein’s crimes when he hosted him and Maxwell at Royal Lodge in 2006.
Interest in the Epstein case was reignited earlier this year after US government agencies said they had found no evidence of foul play in his 2019 death in a Manhattan jail, which was ruled a suicide. Officials also denied that the disgraced financier had kept a list of wealthy people he allegedly trafficked women to. Giuffre’s memoirs were posthumously released in October, bringing renewed attention to Andrew’s ties to Epstein.
