Prince Andrew stripped of royal title over alleged affair with Epstein
Buckingham Palace has confirmed that Prince Andrew will be stripped of his royal titles following allegations surrounding his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, exiled from the British royal family, has at least one honor he was allowed to protect.
The 65-year-old former Duke of York, no longer known as Prince Andrew, has been allowed to keep his Falklands War campaign medals after his brother Charles II began the process of revoking his titles on October 30, the Guardian and Telegraph reported.
British media reported on November 5 that Buckingham Palace had confirmed the news.
The Guardian noted that the Operational Service Medal was not an honour, while the Telegraph said all Operational Service Medals would be retained.
USA TODAY has reached out to Buckingham Palace for comment.
In 1982, Andrew co-piloted a helicopter when the Argentine army invaded the Falkland Islands off the coast of South America. According to the 1982 Order of the South Atlantic Society, the Order of the South Atlantic was “awarded to all personnel who participated in operations in the South Atlantic for the liberation of South Georgia and the Falkland Islands.”
Andrew has been stripped of a number of military titles, duchy, knighthood and honors in recent years. On November 2, British Defense Secretary John Healy confirmed that Andrew would also be stripped of his “last remaining title” as Vice Admiral of the Royal Navy.
Mr Andrew, who has vehemently denied sexual abuse allegations linked to Mr Epstein, renounced his royal title on October 17 due to continuing accusations against him, including damning allegations raised in accuser Virginia Giuffre’s posthumous memoir, Nobody’s Girl.
Andrew said in a statement that by “agreement” with Charles III, “I will no longer use my title or the honors bestowed on me. As I have said before, I categorically deny the charges against me.”
Giuffre, who died in April, filed a sexual abuse lawsuit against Andrew in 2021, alleging that Epstein trafficked her to members of the British royal family on three separate occasions when she was a minor around 2001. Andrew settled the lawsuit in 2022.
In the same year, Andrew’s late mother, Queen Elizabeth II, stripped him of his patronage and military ties, making him a royal persona non grata.
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