Duke of York: What Next?

Duke of York: What Next?

by TIM HICKS

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Introduction

All of our readers will be aware of the various sordid sexual and financial controversies swirling around Prince Andrew, Duke of York. They do not need repeating here.

In November 2019, following his failed defence of himself over his friendship with disgraced paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein, in an interview for the BBC program “Newsnight”, Buckingham Palace confirmed that Prince Andrew was suspending his public duties “for the foreseeable future“, not permanently. So this form of words left room for him to return to public duties.

He later stepped down from all of his public patronages and gave up use of the title of His Royal Highness. However, he still retained the title of Prince, his military rank of Vice Admiral, his position as a Counsellor of State and all of his peerages including Duke of York.

Prince Andrew’s latest statement

Following the release of even more salacious allegations, Prince Andrew released this statement:

“In discussion with The King, and my immediate and wider family, we have concluded the continued accusations about me distract from the work of His Majesty and the Royal Family. I have decided, as I always have, to put my duty to my family and country first. I stand by my decision five years ago to stand back from public life. 

With His Majesty’s agreement, we feel I must now go a step further. I will therefore no longer use my title or the honours which have been conferred upon me. As I have said previously, I vigorously deny the accusations against me.” 

At no point in this statement does prince Andrew admit even the slightest error of judgment or misconduct. He expresses no remorse or sympathy for Epstein’s victims and portrays this decision as a selfless act on his part to support the monarchy. When the truth is that he has been forced into this by pressure from the Royal Family.

It should be noted that Prince Andrew is explicit that he will “no longer use” (not renounce) the honours that have been conferred upon him. He therefore retains the title of Prince Andrew and Duke of York. It is for this reason that he is referred to in this article as Duke of York. He also retains use of Royal Lodge, a thirty bed Grade II listed mansion within the grounds of Windsor Great Park which he does not pay rent to the Crown Estates for, which should come to the taxpayer.

In real, practical terms, he has not suffered any significant consequences for his conduct.

The case for removal of the title of Duke of York

In April 2022 The City of York Council voted to remove Andrew’s Freedom of the City. He is the only person ever to have been stripped of this honour. Labour MP for York Rachael Maskell introduced a bill to give the Monarch power to “remove titles; to provide that such removals can be done by the Monarch on their own initiative or following a recommendation of a joint committee of Parliament”, which did not progress beyond first reading. If enacted, it would have given the monarch or a committee of Parliament to strip titles from those it considered were unfit to hold them.

York’s Councillors are presumably in touch with public opinion in their constituencies. Which indicates that stripping Prince Andrew of the Freedom of the City is in accordance with public opinion in York. This decision has not been controversial locally or been challenged and was unanimous across all parties. So it appears to me that these public feelings of revulsion for His Grace Prince Andrew, Duke of York are probably wider and extend across the entire County of Yorkshire, not just the City of York.

In his statement above, Prince Andrew denies any wrongdoing. However, recently released e mail correspondence with Epstein shows that Prince Andrew maintained his friendship with Epstein after he knew that he was a convicted paedophile. This correspondence occurred after the time he stated in the BBC Newsnight interview that he had broken off contact with Epstein. In short, Prince Andrew lied. So his denials lack credibility.

Prince Andrew has become a local figure of ridicule, as shown by the prophetic photon above from March 2022

Under these circumstances, it is only right that the title Duke of York is removed from Prince Andrew immediately. It does not matter how this is done, whether it is by Prince Andrew renouncing the title, by Act of Parliament, the recommendation of a Parliamentary Committee, or by Letters Patent issued by His Majesty King Charles III. It has to go, as have all the other titles he holds.

Some will argue that Prince Andrew has denied any wrongdoing, has not been convicted of any criminal offence and therefore removal of his titles goes against the principle of innocent until proven guilty. This is a valid concern, but the following counter arguments apply:

• Virginia Giuffre was allegedly trafficked to the UK to have sex with Prince Andrew when she was aged seventeen. Although she was over the UK age of consent, the offence of trafficking is not age restricted and can occur for women over the age of consent. There have been three investigations into the allegations against Prince Andrew, all conducted by the Metropolitan Police, the Force that is also charged with protecting him. It has been alleged that the investigation was not impartial. Certainly, if this allegation had been made against you or I, we would have been arrested and questioned under caution in a police station, then possibly charged. Prince Andrew has not been subjected to this level of questioning.

• No police investigation has ever publicly cleared him of the allegations.

• The monarchy exists by consent. Irrespective of the lack of a criminal conviction, the number and sordid nature of the various acts of financial and sexual misconduct Prince Andrew is accused of are so grave, that he has been found guilty in the Court of Public Opinion. In a recent poll, 67% of those asked indicated he should go into exile. It is clear that the public will no longer accept him being a member of the British aristocracy.

• Prince Andrew is currently under criminal investigation for asking a member of his personal protection team from the Metropolitan Police to make background enquiries on one of his alleged victims. Presumably to use in a campaign to discredit her. He is still under criminal investigation in the United States. Both of these investigations are ongoing and could still result in criminal charges being preferred against him, a trial and a criminal conviction

• Another wave of allegations has emerged from the posthumous publication of Ms Giuffrey’s book. Further allegations will emerge as new victims come forward.

• Prince Andrew denies Ms Giuffrey’s allegations and denies he has met her. However, he paid twelve million pounds to Ms Giuffrey in compensation in an out of court settlement, which undermines his denials. Or, put another way:

“The Grand old Duke of York,

He had 12 million quid.

He gave it to someone he never met,

For something he never did.”

This scandal is far more damaging to the Royal Family than the greatest crisis it previously had in modern times, which was the abdication crisis of 1936, when King Edward VIII abdicated the throne, to marry an American divorcee. This because:

• Abdication is a lawful act. This scandal relates to allegations of serious crime against a very senior member of the Royal Family.

• Sexual abuse of vulnerable women is a crime that is deeply offensive to the public. Following the Jimmy Savile and related scandals, they will not tolerate sexual abuse by influential people.

• Republican sentiment amongst the public is much stronger now than in 1936.

• Following his abdication in 1936, the former King Edward VIII accepted he had no role in public life and did not attempt to participate in any state events, or put himself forward in the media.

Opinion

When Conservative County Councillor and Scarborough Mayor Peter Jaconelli was revealed as a paedophile and a rapist – largely as a result of the NYE’s investigative journalism – his status of Alderman was removed. This was even though he was never convicted of any offence, because of a cover up by North Yorkshire Police to protect his reputation and their own. The NYE would argue that the same principle should apply to Prince Andrew, given the overwhelming evidence and the failure of the Police in the UK to investigate the allegations impartially.

Unless decisive action is taken now, the Prince Andrew scandal will run and run and run, causing more damage to the monarchy and to the image of this country abroad. I believe that Prince Andrew should do the honourable thing and voluntarily renounce all his titles. Then go into exile, never to return to the UK, as King Edward the VIII did after his abdication in 1936. However, Prince Andrew knows there is no easy mechanism to remove him. He appears to be taking advantage of this to try and retain his status.

Although I count myself as a Royalist, I am of the opinion that ‘Prince’ Andrew must be deprived of his titles, even if this requires an act of parliament. In that respect the failure of Rachael Maskell’s bill has transpired to be unfortunate. Had a Deprivation of Titles Act been enacted in 2022, we would not now be in the current unsatisfactory position of having Prince Andrew hanging on, despite the clear need for him to go. I believe that if such an act now existed, Prince Andrew would have understood that parliament would use the act to remove his titles and he would have renounced them to avoid this.

As an aside, concerning another entitled Royal. The existence of a Deprivation of Titles Act would also allow Parliament to resolve the thorny question of Prince Harry and the Duchess of Sussex.

But that is another issue.

Note from the Editor:

This article was received shortly before Prince Andrew as he was known was stripped of all the above titles and became Mr Andrew Mountbatten Windsor. We have run it as it was submitted to show that the NYE was correct in the line it took in the above article. At the time the article was submitted, the LibDems were asking for a debate in the House of Commons and such is the republican feeling amongst some MPs, that it is likely that this could have started the move to formally remove his titles by a Deprivation of Titles Act. Fortunately, a mechanism using the Lord Chancellor, not Parliament was found, thereby resolving the issue quickly, avoiding waste of parliamentary time and preventing a damaging debate in the House of Commons.

Tim’s opinion above . . . “that Prince Andrew must be deprived of his titles, even if this requires an act of parliament” . . . was obviously well-founded and shared by the Royal Family.