Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was officially stripped of his remaining royal titles on Monday afternoon by his brother, King Charles III, leaving him with the status of an ordinary citizen, in a major final humiliation. The former Duke of York lost his place in the Order of the Garter on Monday, when King Charles III officially removed him from the group at midday.
The Order of the Garter is Britain's oldest order of chivalry, which was founded by King Edward III back in 1348. Andrew's coat of arms has already been taken down from St George's Chapel in Windsor, where his parents, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, are laid to rest.
Nowhere to Hide
Andrew's Knight of the Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order was also revoked on Monday, as confirmed in an official notice published in The Gazette, the UK's public record. However, the disgraced royal will spend one final Christmas at his Royal Lodge home in Windsor, the Daily Mail reported.
This means Andrew won't be moved to Sandringham — and into full royal exile — until sometime after the New Year.
The removal of Andrew's remaining royal honors was formally documented in The Gazette under the King's authority, after Charles issued the Royal Warrants needed to legally strip the titles.
The official notice reads: "THE KING has directed that the appointment of Andrew Albert Christian Edward MOUNTBATTEN-WINDSOR to be a Knight Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, dated 23 April 2006, shall be cancelled and annulled and that his name shall be erased from the Register of the said Order."
The former Prince Andrew still technically holds the rank of vice-admiral in the Royal Navy, but defense officials have now been ordered to "get on with it" and remove that final military honor as soon as they can. Unlike his royal titles, it's the Government — not the King — that has the authority to take away this rank.
Back in October, Andrew was stripped of all his remaining royal titles, including the right to be called "prince."
That move came as the Daily Mail on Sunday published a leaked email showing he had not told the truth during his BBC "Newsnight" interview, when he insisted he had "never had any contact" with Jeffrey Epstein after they were photographed together in New York in December 2010.
Monday's announcement officially confirms the decision King Charles and Prince William made back in late October to remove all of Andrew's remaining royal titles.
More Secrets Coming Out
Meanwhile, new claims surfaced on Sunday involving Andrew and a young actress who was abused by Epstein. According to reports, Andrew told the actress that another woman had already raised concerns about Epstein's "inappropriate" behavior — and this was allegedly a year before he is accused of having sex with Virginia Giuffre.
In a dramatic statement given to The Mail on Sunday, it was further alleged that Andrew introduced the actress — whom he had been romantically involved with in the late 1990s — to Epstein during a visit to Windsor Castle, and that the disgraced American financier later went on to sexually assault her.
The outlet claims that the woman — whose identity is being withheld for legal reasons — received a financial settlement in June as one of Epstein's victims. Perry Wander, a well-known U.S. attorney, says the woman told Andrew about Epstein's "inappropriate" behavior 25 years ago.
According to the claim, Andrew responded that he "wasn't surprised," saying someone else had made a similar complaint, though that person has not been identified.
This woman's warning to Andrew about Epstein reportedly came more than a year before Epstein trafficked 17-year-old Virginia Giuffre to London to meet the then Duke of York.
Giuffre, who died by suicide earlier this year, had long claimed that she was forced to have sex with Andrew on three occasions — accusations the former prince has consistently and firmly denied.
These new claims — the first suggesting Andrew introduced a woman to Epstein — are likely to send shockwaves through the Royal Family. They also put more pressure on Andrew, already stripped of all royal titles, to testify before the U.S. Congress about his relationship with the convicted sex offender, which could bring further embarrassment to him.
