Prince Andrew, who is knee deep in a Jeffrey Epstein-related legal battle over allegations that he sexually abused a teenager in the early 2000s, has been stripped of his military affiliations and patronages, according to an official communique from Queen Elizabeth II.
The Queen on Thursday moved to distance Buckingham Palace from Andrew. The queen’s second son also agreed not to use the title “His Royal Highness” in any capacity, a palace official said.
“With The Queen’s approval and agreement, The Duke of York’s military affiliations and Royal patronages have been returned to The Queen,” the Buckingham Palace announcement stated.
The statement followed the Dec. 29 conviction of Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell on 5 sex trafficking charges.
If British royalty has been ensnared by the Epstein pedophile network, what about former US President Bill Clinton?
Miami Herald reporter Julie Brown had this to say in a New York magazine article:
Clinton obviously had a relationship with Epstein, and I know that everybody has distanced themselves from him, but to some degree, it seems like there are things that don’t make any sense. Why are there people that say Clinton was on the island when he’s saying he wasn’t on the island? I think everybody knows that he was on the island. Gabriel Sherman wrote a Vanity Fair piece where Doug Band basically said, “Yes, he was on the island.” Why is your former right-hand man saying now that you were on that island, and if you were on that island, why would you lie about it?
Media reports say Andrew’s roles will be reassigned to other members of the Royal family. The Duke of York, who turns 62 next month, is ninth in the line of succession to the British throne.
Prince Andrew is facing a possible trial in New York this fall after his lawyers recently failed to halt a suit stemming from his ties to Epstein and British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell. One of Epstein’s victims, Virginia Giuffre, filed the lawsuit against Andrew last year, alleging she was forced to have sex with the British royal when she was 17. Prince Andrew has denied the allegations.
Prince Andrew, the palace added, “will continue not to undertake any public duties and is defending this case as a private citizen.”
This demotion effectively places Prince Andrew on a par with Prince Harry, who was also stripped of his military titles and barred from using the HRH title when he quit royal duties to move to the US.
