A road in Melbourne, Australia named after Prince Andrew could be changed after locals object following his fall from grace
There have been pleas for a road called Prince Andrew Avenue in Australia to be renamed in the wake of the scandal surrounding him. Residents living in the street in north Melbourne are examining ways to dump the disgraced Royal.
It follows calls in the UK in towns like Maidenhead, Berks and Broadstairs, Kent for similar changes. The local Whittlesea City Council in Australia said that some residents had inquired about changing the name of their street after Andrew Mountbatten Windsor’s fall from grace.
The king stripped his brother Andrew of his titles last month and evicted him from his royal mansion over his relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Andrew has strongly and consistently denied any and all allegations of any wrongdoing regarding sex with anyone underage and connected to Epstein.
Michael Labrador, a local councillor, backed a name change. “My personal view, is if someone has been disgraced and has lost their title, we shouldn’t honour them with a street name,” he said.
Tony George, who lives on Prince Andrew Avenue, was fine with a new name. “If they’ve got to do it, they’ve got to do it,” he said. “I knew this would come up eventually.”
A spokesperson for Whittlesea Council said the municipality had sought advice from Geographic Names Victoria (GNV) and were told a name change application required support from a majority of affected residents.
The naming rules for places in Victoria say road names should be enduring and changed only when necessary.
“Should there be clear support from residents of the street for a name change, council will undertake a formal consultation process and, if appropriate, submit a renaming proposal to GNV for assessment,” a Whittlesea spokesperson said.
“Council is currently liaising with the residents who inquired about a name change to discuss next steps. At this stage, a formal renaming process has not commenced.” Earlier this week a US congressman claimed that Jeffrey Epstein may have trafficked more women to meet Andrew Mountbatten Windsor as well as Virginia Giuffre.
Democrat Suhas Subramanyam said that ‘brave survivors of Epstein’ had given testimony about Andrew – who lost his titles last month – and ‘other powerful men’. He is taking part in an inquiry into the so-called ‘Epstein Files’, a list of the convicted paedophile’s alleged clients.
Mr Subramanyam, who sits on Congress’s House Oversight Committee, which is conducting the probe, said: “We have reason to believe that there are others who may have been trafficked to Andrew.
“Many of the survivors came to Capitol Hill and we spoke to them. They’ve been so courageous and gave us very valuable information as far as where to look.”
The congressman sent a letter to Andrew last week, signed by himself and 15 other Democratic members of the committee, demanding that he testify under oath about what he knew about Epstein’s sex-trafficking ring.
