Prince Andrew has given up his remaining titles and honours, including the Duke of York, in the wake of the Epstein scandal.
It comes just days before the publication of a memoir by Andrew’s late alleged victim, Virginia Giuffre, to whom he paid millions to settle a civil sexual assault case.
In a statement released by Buckingham Palace, Andrew said the decision was made after a discussion with the King and his immediate and wider family.
‘I have decided, as I always have, to put my duty to my family and country first. I stand by my decision five years ago to stand back from public life,’ he said.
‘With His Majesty’s agreement, we feel I must now go a step further. I will therefore no longer use my title or the honours which have been conferred upon me.
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‘As I have said previously, I vigorously deny the accusations against me.’
Andrew will remain a prince, which he has been entitled to since birth.
The King’s brother will retain the dukedom, which can only be removed by an Act of Parliament, but not use it.
He will also give up his knighthood as a Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order (GCVO) and his Garter role as a Royal Knight Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter.
In her posthumous book, Giuffre called Prince Andrew ‘entitled’ and claimed he thought having sex with her was his ‘birthright’.
Virginia, who died in April aged 41, made the revelations in ‘Nobody’s Girl: A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice’, which she finished writing before her death.
The book is now set to be released this month, which will detail the alleged encounter she had with Andrew while she was 17 after being trafficked by Jeffrey Epstein.
Within the 400-page book, she also says the Duke of York said ‘thank you’ in a ‘clipped British accent’ after having sex with her.
Ghislaine Maxwell also allegedly praised her after, saying: ‘You did well, the Prince had fun.’
Andrew denied having sex with the then-17-year-old, but spent millions in an out-of-court settlement in 2022.
Publishers Alfred A Knopf said the book contains ‘intimate, disturbing, and heartbreaking new details about her time with Epstein, fellow sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell and their many well-known friends, including Prince Andrew, about whom she speaks publicly for the first time since their out-of-court settlement in 2022’.
Virginia, a mum-of-three, was found dead at her home in Neergabby, Australia, where she had been living for the past several years.
The publishers said she completed the manuscript only 25 days before her death.
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