As announced by Buckingham Palace earlier today, The Duke of York has given back his military appointments and patronages to The Queen. While he had already stepped down as patron from several organisations due to his ongoing legal issues, he has now renounced all patronages.
Prior to this step, Prince Andrew was patron to over 100 different organisations both in Britain and across the Commonwealth. He tended to focus on organisations focused on business and sporting but still held a wide variety.
The Duke was a patron of several schools. He was the patron of the Friends of Lakefield College School, the alumni society for the Ontario school he attended as a teenager, as well as the Westminster Academy in London and the Wellington Academy in Wiltshire.
Many of Andrew’s former patronages are connected to sports, in particular golf. Given that Andrew’s love of golf is well-known, it is unsurprising that almost a quarter of his patronages were related to golf. He was the patron of 24 different golf clubs, societies, and associations, including the Royal Household Golf Club, the Royal Navy Golf Association, and the Royal Air Force Golfing Society.
In addition to golf, he held several patronages with yachting and sailing organisations. He was patron of the Royal Victoria Yacht Club and the Maple Bay Yacht Club in British Columbia, as well as the Royal Thames Yacht Club and the Port of Dartmouth Royal Regatta.
The Duke served as Special Representative for International Trade and Investment from 2001 to 2011, and has focused on business-related organisations. Notably, he was a Royal Bencher for the Honourable Society of Lincoln’s Inn, one of the four Inns of Court. (The Duke of Kent also serves as a Royal Bencher.)
In addition to losing his remaining patronages and honourary military appointments, the Duke can no longer use his HRH title publicly. Since his infamous 2019 interview where he publicly pled his innocence, over 50 organisations had distanced themselves.
