On Friday evening, Prince Andrew announced that he would no longer use the titles or honours granted to him, as the continued allegations about his relationship with the paedophile Jeffrey Epstein would “distract from the work of His Majesty and the Royal Family“.
That means that while he has not been formally stripped of his titles, he is no longer to be known as the Duke of York and will no longer be a member of the Order of the Garter. He will, however, remain a Prince. Yet critics of Andrew have raised the prospect of removing that too.
Should Andrew lose his Prince title? The i Paper’s experts offer their perspectives.
Harry Mount: Now he is at his lowest, we should show him kindness
Prince Andrew is finished. Now he cuts a pathetic figure, brought low by allegations of sexual and financial greed, selfishness, nastiness and stratospheric stupidity.
His honorary roles in the Armed Forces are gone. His public duties are gone. His job as a trade envoy is gone. His HRH title is in abeyance. And now he will not use his Duke of York title. Who knows what might happen after the late Virginia Giuffre alleged in her memoir that he tried to smear her by hiring internet trolls to “hassle” her, and now that the Metropolitan Police is “actively” looking into the Mail on Sunday claims that Andrew asked his close protection officer to investigate her?
He can deny the accusations as strenuously as he likes; either way, his humiliation is complete.
Yes, he has the outrageously huge, rent-free Royal Lodge at Windsor Great Park to rattle around in. But which of us would envy a life trapped in that gilded cage, unable to walk freely in public for fear of ritual abuse?
All he has left is his literal birthright: his position as a Prince, as a result of being the son of a monarch – and, incidentally, a much-loved monarch. In the depths of his utterly deserved, profound disgrace, shouldn’t we be magnanimous – in a way he never has been to others in his brutish life?
So take away his duties, yes, and let his dukedom fall into abeyance. But let Andrew remain a Prince, a kind act to an unkind man; a small consolation to him for the remainder of his shattered life.
Harry Mount is author of How England Made the English
Kate Maltby: Let’s abolish hereditary monarchy altogether
What makes a Prince? In Britain, it’s the simple fact of being pushed out into the world, naked and screaming, as the progeny of a monarch. It certifies no achievements, no contribution to the world, and no guarantee of thoughtful reflection on this peculiarity. As Prince Andrew reminds us daily.
Parliament can strip Andrew of his title, but it would be a messy business. Not only because MPs are stretched for legislative time already to deal with policy, but also because it would expose how much of our relationship with the monarchy is based on emotion and instinctive morality.
There is plenty of evidence that Andrew has behaved appallingly. In just the latest episode, as reported, it was an atrocious abuse of his taxpayer-funded protection to allegedly direct his protection officer to dig up dirt on Virginia Giuffre: it was also an achingly familiar pattern to anyone who has dealt with abusive men in power. But there is also much that Andrew “vigorously denies”, and although we may – and largely do – choose to disbelieve him, Parliament is ill-equipped to act as a fact-finding court of law. Perhaps it’s time Andrew faced one of those, instead.
Most messily, however, Parliament cannot adjudicate on the rule of basic emotive facts of our relationship with monarchy: why some people are born princes, why we expect that accident of birth to inculcate virtue, why we lack real metrics other than PR-crafted popularity to decide which inspire us. Accept that a prince can be stripped of his title, and we may as well abolish hereditary monarchy entirely. Let’s try that instead.
Kate Maltby is a columnist for The i Paper
Eliot Wilson: Taking away his title would create a precedent for the future
Last week’s statement by Prince Andrew that he would cease using his titles has caused excitement and misunderstanding. Headlines have trumpeted that he had “given up” or “lost” his dukedom of York and other honours.
Let’s be clear. In formal terms, nothing has changed. Andrew has simply stated that he will “no longer use my title or the honours which have been conferred upon me”. So he remains HRH The Duke of York KG, GCVO, etc – he just won’t say so in public.
What rankles for many is that he is still “Prince” Andrew. This is not an honour he was granted, but a style he has held since birth. Under Letters Patent issued by George V in 1917, “the children of any Sovereign of these Realms… shall have and at all times hold and enjoy the… titular dignity of Prince or Princess”.
Peerage titles, like the “Duke of York”, can only be removed by an act of Parliament. Andrew’s princely title could also be removed by statute, as the Crown Prince of Hanover, great-grandson of George III, lost his under the Titles Deprivation Act 1917. Alternatively, the King could stop him from being a Prince by issuing Letters Patent. Either route would only be taken with ministerial advice.
If he is to be reduced to Mr Andrew Windsor, both the Government and the sovereign must act decisively, rather than rely on his deeply flawed honour. It would create a precedent for the future. The question is, how serious is the Royal Family about sending Andrew into permanent exile?
Eliot Wilson is a writer and historian, senior fellow at Coalition for Global Prosperity and a contributing editor at Defence on the Brink
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