The brother of The King will no longer have a royal title and instead will take a new name.
Prince Andrew is losing all his titles with Buckingham Palace making the announcement that King Charles is axing his younger brother’s royal style for good.
Instead, the Palace confirmed that the eighth in line to the throne will now be known as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.
The Palace said ”His Majesty has today initiated a formal process to remove the Style, Titles and Honours of Prince Andrew.”
It continued ”Prince Andrew will now be known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor.”
The surname was created in 1960 for descendants of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip. It combines Prince Philip’s family name of Mountbatten with the dynastic name of Queen Elizabeth II’s house.
When it was created, Queen Elizabeth II declared ”my descendants other than descendants enjoying the style, title or attribute of Royal Highness and the titular dignity of Prince or Princess and female descendants who marry and their descendants shall bear the name of Mountbatten-Windsor.”
Elizabeth II and Prince Philip’s second son was born in the same year and was immediately HRH The Prince Andrew. He became Duke of York in 1986 on his marriage when he also received the titles of Earl of Inverness and Baron Killyleagh. In 2022, he gave up use of his HRH after settling a court case with Virginia Giuffre without admitting responsibility.
Virginia Giuffre died by suicide earlier this year. Her posthumous memoir was published last week in which she said she was forced to have sex with Andrew three times when she was seventeen years old.
He has always denied that. However, in its statement, Buckingham Palace said ”These censures are deemed necessary, notwithstanding the fact that he continues to deny the allegations against him. 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.”
Queen Camilla is a long time advocate for women who have been sexually assaulted and has even helped develop care kits for those being supported by emergency services after escaping domestic violence and sexual assault.
The new name of the eighth in line to the throne takes immediate effect even though the formal processes to remove all his titles and honours is not yet complete.
It had previously been thought that an Act of Parliament would be needed to remove the titles. However, it is understood that The King is to send Royal Warrants to the Lord Chancellor to secure the removal of the Dukedom of York from the Peerage Roll. The same will apply to the HRH, Prince and the Earldom of Inverness and Andrew’s other former title of Baron Killyleagh.
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor said earlier this month that he would no longer use the title of Duke of York which he was given by Queen Elizabeth II on his wedding day in 1986. However, he still formally owned it. Now, it will be taken from him permanently.
His ex-wife also gave up her courtesy title and is now known as Sarah Ferguson. Their two daughters remain HRH Princess Beatrice and HRH Princess Eugenie.
The Buckingham Palace statement also said that Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor is moving from Royal Lodge, the thirty room home on the Windsor estate he has lived in since 2003. It was recently revealed he pays no monetary rent on it. Instead, he will stay at a private home on the Sandringham estate.
