Queen Elizabeth II withdraws Prince Andrew’s military titles and royal patronage after sexual abuse scandal

Queen Elizabeth II has decided to withdraw all his military titles from Prince Andrew, who will be tried in the United States for his alleged involvement in a scandal of sexual abuse of a minorBuckingham Palace announced Thursday. In a brief statement issued by the official residence of the British sovereign, the Royal House indicated that “with the approval of the queen and her agreement, the military titles of the Duke of York and his royal patronages have been returned to the queen.”

The palace further announces that “the Duke of York will continue to hold no public office and will plead his (judicial) case as a private citizen,” the note added. From now on, the son of Elizabeth II You will also no longer be able to use the title of “Your Royal Highness” in no official capacity. As soon as this drastic measure was made public, which dealt a huge setback to the Duke and his entourage, an anonymous source close to Andrés told the British media that he “will continue to defend himself” against Virginia Giuffre’s allegations.

That woman has consistently maintained that was trafficked as a minor by millionaire tycoon Jeffrey Epstein, with the help of his “right hand” and former partner Ghislaine Maxwell, to have sex with the prince. “Given the harshness with which Judge (Lewis) Kaplan received our arguments, we are not surprised by his opinion,” said that same source close to Andrés after the magistrate rejected all the arguments of the duke’s defense to file the case. . He added, however, that “it was not a trial on the validity of Giuffre’s allegations”, while considering that this process “is a marathon, not a sprint and the Duke will continue to defend himself against these accusations”.

The monarch’s decision comes after some 152 war veterans of this country will urge the monarch to withdraw these honors from her son after knowing yesterday the judicial verdict on the case. Veterans of the British Naval Forces, the Air Forces and the Army of this country had appealed to the sovereign to strip the prince of all his honors in an open letter addressed to Elizabeth II, which was released today by the anti-monarchy group Republic.

In the letter, these soldiers expressed their “disgust and anger” at the fact that the prince -until today- still retained those titles, because their position seemed “untenable”. They also recalled that Andrés’s involvement in the sexual scandal had “disturbed” the military services with which he is related, taking into account that “if it were any other veteran military officer (who was in that situation), it is inconceivable keep him in his position.”

Although Andrés abandoned his public duties in 2019 when he was linked to the ill-fated North American pedophile -who committed suicide in a prison in the United States– and has not returned to attend any military act, until now he retained his functions in eight British regiments, which have been in limbo for the last two years. The link between the brother of Charles of England and the Army is deep and goes back decades.

the prince was helicopter pilot in the Malvinas war fought between Argentina and the United Kingdom United (between April and June 1982) and among the military honors that were granted and withdrawn were that of Colonel of the Grenadier Guards, or deputy colonel-in-chief of the Royal Lancers. The Duke of York has always categorically denied Giuffre’s accusations and in 2019 he gave an interview to the BBC Newsnight program to give his version of what happened and with which he hoped to clean up his deteriorated image.

In that television space, the son of Elizabeth II denied having had sexual relations with minors and although he defended his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, he also admitted that he should have cut his relationship with the pederast much earlier. Many analysts considered that, far from helping him, his televised intervention further damaged his image among citizens.