Prince Andrew to give up Duke of York title and honors amid Jeffrey Epstein developments

Britain’s Prince Andrew will stop using his title Duke of York after facing new questions over his friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Andrew, the younger brother of King Charles III, said in a statement released via Buckingham Palace that he would “no longer use my title or the honors bestowed upon me.”

The decision was made “in discussion with the King and my immediate and extended family”, he said, after concluding that “the continued accusations against me distract from the work of His Majesty and the Royal Family”.

“As I have previously stated, I vigorously deny the allegations against me,” Andrew said.

His former wife, Sarah Ferguson, will no longer be known as the Duchess of York.

Andrew stepped down from public office in 2019 and restored his military affiliations and then his royal patronage in January 2022, after his lawyers failed to convince a US judge to dismiss a lawsuit accusing him of sexual abuse.

He then paid a substantial sum to Epstein abuse survivor Virginia Giuffre, who alleged that Andrew sexually assaulted her when she was 17. Andrew has repeatedly denied this allegation. Giuffre committed suicide in April at the age of 41.

Friday’s ruling comes after the Mail on Sunday and Sun on Sunday newspapers published an email, not verified by NBC News, allegedly sent from Andrew to Epstein in 2011, after the publication of a photograph showing Andrew with his arm around Giuffre.

“We are in this together,” the newspapers reported in the email. “Play again soon.”

The palace did not respond to a request for comment from NBC News on the email.

Andrew has previously said he cut off all contact with Epstein in 2010. In a disastrous interview on the BBC’s “Newsnight” in November 2019, he said he went to Epstein’s New York home that year in an effort to end their friendship.

Last month, an email from Ferguson to Epstein was sent in 2011, describing the disgraced financier as a “supreme friend”, just weeks after she publicly distanced herself from him.

Epstein was found dead by suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges in New York.

Epstein’s return to headlines in the UK comes just weeks after Britain’s ambassador to the US, Peter Mandelson, was sacked over his own links to Epstein. He denies any wrongdoing.