The end? UK royals and govt face calls to strip Prince Andrew of titles

london: He won’t call himself a duke anymore, but that is not enough for many of Prince Andrew’s critics.

Buckingham Palace and the British government were under pressure on Monday to formally strip Prince Andrew of his princely title and sumptuous home after new revelations about his relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

After discussions with his elder brother King Charles III, Andrew agreed on Friday to stop using titles including Duke of York. It was the latest effort to insulate the monarchy from years of tawdry headlines about Andrew’s suspicious business deals, inappropriate behaviour and controversial friendships.

But he still technically holds the title of duke, bestowed by his late mother, Queen Elizabeth II. And as the son of a monarch, he remains a prince.

Andrew’s statement relinquishing some of his royal titles came after emails emerged showing he had remained in contact with Epstein longer than he previously admitted, and days before publication of a posthumous memoir by Epstein accuser Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who alleged she had sex with Andrew when she was 17.

Giuffre’s brother, Sky Roberts, urged the king to go further and “remove the title of prince, too. “He shouldn’t be able to call himself one,” Roberts told The Times of London newspaper.

Andrew, 65, has long denied Giuffre’s claims, but stepped down from royal duties after a disastrous November 2019 BBC interview in which he attempted to rebut her allegations. Some opposition politicians said Andrew should formally be stripped of his dukedom through an act of Parliament.

Scottish National Party lawmaker Stephen Flynn said the government should use legislation to remove titles from both Andrew and Peter Mandelson, a member of the House of Lords over his past friendship

with Epstein. Agencies