Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was stripped of his titles after the scandal over his links sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and now the Royal Family website has been updated
The ‘line of succession’ page on the Royal Family’s website has been changed following the removal of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s titles.
Andrew’s title was scrubbed from his general profile page three days after losing his dukedom over the Jeffrey Epstein scandal, but remained on the ‘line of succession’ section.
It followed Buckingham Palace’s announcement on October 17 that Andrew would be stripped of his remaining titles and honours, including his title Duke of York. On October 30 it was announced Andrew would lose his prince title, before this became official on November 7 when the King also removed his HRH style.
The ‘line of succession’ section of the Royal Family website has now finally been updated too. Where Andrew is listed as eighth in line of succession as ‘The Duke of York’ behind Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet of Sussex, he is now simply ‘Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’.
READ MORE: Sarah Ferguson ‘abandons’ Andrew as she prepares to make her next moveREAD MORE: Andrew’s net worth as former prince ‘earning £20k a year’
His profile page was taken down altogether at the start of November, with a message on royal.uk/the-duke-of-york now saying: “The requested page could not be found.” It comes after a poll suggested three quarters of Britons believe Andrew should have to give evidence to the US Congress about his links to paedophile Epstein.
American legislators have criticised the King’s 65-year-old brother for ‘hiding’ from them after the former prince ignored a request to sit for a transcribed interview. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer suggested at the weekend ‘if you have relevant information you should be prepared to share it’ after Andrew missed the November 20 response deadline given by members of the House Oversight Committee.
The move to remove Andrew’s titles followed the publication of posthumous memoirs by Andrew’s accuser Virginia Giuffre. The former Duke of York has for many years faced allegations he sexually assaulted a teenaged Ms Giuffre after she was trafficked by Epstein. Andrew strenuously denies the accusations.
A letter signed by 16 members of Congress was sent to Andrew on November 6 requesting his co-operation with the committee’s investigation into Epstein’s sex trafficking operations.
The US politicians said their House Oversight Committee had identified “financial records containing notations such as ‘massage for Andrew’ that raise serious questions”. Epstein took his own life in a New York prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking and conspiracy charges.
On October 30, Andrew’s new name as a commoner was announced as ‘Andrew Mountbatten Windsor’. But the surname was missing the hyphen decreed by Andrew’s late mother, Queen Elizabeth II, 65 years ago when she set out the arrangements for the naming of her descendants as ‘Mountbatten-Windsor’.
When asked about the absence of a hyphen, in reference to the Queen’s decision in 1960, a palace spokeswoman said at the time: “Andrew Mountbatten Windsor was the name agreed.”
But the palace subsequently examined the 1960 Privy Council Declaration, which includes a hyphen, and sources confirmed on November 12 that they will use a hyphen going forward.
