Over the last five years, commentators and royal watchers everywhere have asked: should The Queen start taking titles away from royals who err? While it is not a clear cut case, it is not necessarily as unthinkable as it once was.
Many people have called for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to lose their titles after stepping back from working royal life in January 2020. I don’t believe that they should lose their titles; they have not committed any crimes (nor have been accused of any), and have simply chosen to live a different life in the US. When the continual threats and harassment are factored in, removing the Sussex title would largely appear to be punishing them for existing.
However, Prince Andrew and the York dukedom is another question.
For several years now, Andrew’s friendship with Jeffrey Epstein has proven to be more than simply a bad choice for Andrew. Being publicly accused of having sexual relations with an underage girl who was trafficked is a damning situation in the best of cases.
The Duke of York then proceeded to attempt to clumsily defend himself via a disastrous Newsnight interview in 2019, refused to cooperate with FBI investigators, and recently settled with his civil court case instead of going to court to prove his innocence as was first reported. Although he was not convicted of a crime in court, his public image is not salvageable, and he is only a liability to the Royal Family at this point.
On 13 January, 2022, Buckingham Palace announced that the Prince would be returning all of his remaining patronages and honorary military appointments, and would be handling his court case as a private citizen. Reporters also noted that he would no longer be publicly using his HRH. But when that statement was released, many people immediately asked why his title wasn’t fully revoked.
The Duke of York title is meaningful to the monarchy as a whole and personally to The Queen. The title is often bestowed on the second son of the monarch if it is available, and several Dukes of York have ended up sitting on the throne, including Her Majesty’s father.
However, I don’t know that Prince Charles or Prince William could bestow the title on Prince Louis if it is even available at the time of his wedding (or whenever they choose to confer it). For the next several decades, the public will associate the York title with Prince Andrew and his morally questionable behaviour.
The York dukedom will be tainted by association, but The Queen could make a stand to revoke Andrew’s title. It is unlikely. But at this point, she should strongly be considering it. Elizabeth is forward-thinking for the monarchy; she used her Accession Day statement to cement Camilla’s position as Queen Consort, a future that she will not be there for. Andrew will continue to remain a thorn in the monarchy’s side for as long as he remains the Duke of York.
The Royal Family will need to deal with the Andrew issue- settling the court case does not settle the larger issues- and if she doesn’t, Charles or William will need to. The existence of the monarchy is being questioned more and more frequently, and one of the central issues raised is why they are held apart and seemingly face no consequences. Removing Andrew’s York title would absolutely be a consequence, and quite possibly one of the only consequences that matters to him.
Removing a Dukedom would require an Act of Parliament: The Queen can remove an HRH, but Parliament must be involved if a title were revoked. A fair question to ask is whether or not the House of Commons and House of Lords should be wasting time on something like that, but at this point, I would guess that there are few members of the public who want Andrew to keep his title.
The other question to ask is what would happen to Princess Beatrice and Eugenie if he were stripped of the York dukedom. Since their marriages, they are no longer known as Princesses of York and no matter what happens to their father, they would retain their HRH and Princess titles.
In order to survive, the British monarchy is going to need to continue to make difficult choices and evolve with the times. And evolving includes holding royals accountable. If a royal is embroiled in a scandal in the twenty-first century, revoking their title should absolutely be a real possibility.
