Prince Andrew Stripped of All Royal Titles Now Officially Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor
In a moment unlike any other in modern royal history, King Charles III has stripped his younger brother Prince Andrew of all royal titles, honors, and privileges — including his use of the title Prince and His Royal Highness.
The announcement came from Buckingham Palace on Thursday, October 30, confirming that the Duke of York, once one of the most prominent members of the Royal Family, will now be known simply as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor.
“His Majesty has today initiated a formal process to remove the Style, Titles, and Honours of Prince Andrew,” the palace stated.
“Prince Andrew will now be known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor.”
The move officially ends a royal chapter that began at Andrew’s birth in 1960, when Queen Elizabeth II granted him the title His Royal Highness The Prince Andrew.
End of the Duke of York Era
The decision also strips Andrew of the title Duke of York, which he received from his late mother upon his 1986 marriage to Sarah Ferguson, as well as his additional honors as Earl of Inverness and Baron Killyleagh.
Among the orders affected are his Order of the Garter and Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order — distinctions historically reserved for senior royals.
The palace confirmed that Andrew will also lose his long-time residence at Royal Lodge in Windsor, his home since the late 1990s.
“Formal notice has been served to surrender the lease, and he will move to alternative private accommodation,” the statement read.
“These censures are deemed necessary, notwithstanding the fact that he continues to deny the allegations against him.”
A Royal Family United Behind the Decision
Sources close to the Palace told PEOPLE that the move was made personally by King Charles using his Royal Prerogative, the constitutional power that allows the monarch to alter royal titles and honors without parliamentary approval.
The King’s decision reportedly has the full support of Prince William, as well as other senior members of the royal family.
“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,” Buckingham Palace added.
A Troubled Legacy
Prince Andrew’s royal downfall has been years in the making. In 2019, he stepped back from public duties after a disastrous BBC interview in which he attempted to explain his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, the financier who died in jail that same year while awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges.
Following renewed scrutiny from the posthumous memoir of Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre, who tragically died by suicide in April 2024, pressure on the royal family intensified. Giuffre alleged that Epstein arranged for her to meet Andrew when she was 17 and claimed the prince “believed having sex with me was his birthright.”
Andrew has repeatedly denied all allegations and maintains that he never engaged in any wrongdoing.
In January 2022, Queen Elizabeth II removed her son’s military titles and royal patronages after a U.S. judge refused to dismiss Giuffre’s lawsuit. Andrew later settled the case out of court for an undisclosed sum.
A Rare Royal Precedent
The last time a British royal was formally stripped of titles was in 1917, when Prince Ernest Augustus, Duke of Cumberland and Teviotdale, lost his titles under the Titles Deprivation Act after pledging allegiance to Germany during World War I.
Even King Edward VIII, who abdicated in 1936 to marry Wallis Simpson, retained a royal title and was named Duke of Windsor by his brother, King George VI.
This makes King Charles’s decision to remove Andrew’s honors virtually unprecedented in modern times.
Princess Beatrice and Eugenie Retain Their Titles
Despite the move, Andrew’s daughters, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, will retain their royal titles. As daughters of the son of a sovereign, they remain princesses under the terms of King George V’s Letters Patent of 1917.
Both women are said to be devastated but supportive of their father as he faces the reality of life outside the royal institution.
A Quiet Life Ahead
For now, Andrew Mountbatten Windsor is expected to live a private, low-profile life, away from royal duties and public engagements.
While the palace emphasized that he continues to deny all allegations, this marks the final removal of his royal identity — a symbolic end to his decades-long role within the monarchy.
