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The former Duke of York will lose his naval title, the defence secretary has said, as King Charles looks to draw a line under the ongoing scandal over his brother’s relationship with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Andrew Mountbatten Windsor will be stripped of his honorary rank of vice-admiral, which he was given in 2015 and has retained even after giving up other military positions in 2022, John Healey confirmed on Sunday.
Healey told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg that ministers were working with the king to remove his naval honours, after the decision last week to strip him of his royal title as prince and remove him from Royal Lodge.
Healey said: “In general, the government has been guided by the decisions and judgments the king has made. In defence, it’s exactly the same.
“We’ve seen Andrew surrender the honorary positions he’s had throughout the military, and guided again by the king, we are working now to remove that last remaining title of vice-admiral that he has.”
Asked whether Mountbatten Windsor could lose his military medals as well, Healey said they were “medals for his service”, adding: “I don’t have an update for you on that, but just as with his vice-admiral rank and title, we would be guided by the decisions the king makes.”
Mountbatten Windsor has been under renewed scrutiny over his ties to Epstein after the publication of posthumous memoirs by Virginia Giuffre, who says she was forced to have sex with Mountbatten Windsor on three occasions, including when she was 17 and also during an orgy after being trafficked by Epstein. Mountbatten Windsor denies the allegations.
This weekend, it emerged Mountbatten Windsor wrote to Epstein in 2010 after the latter was released from jail on charges of soliciting prostitution.
Newly released emails show the former prince told Epstein: “I have no immediate plans to drop by New York but I think I should at some stage soon. I’ll look and see if I can make a couple of days before the summer. It would be good to catch up in person.”
Epstein was jailed for soliciting prostitution from a minor in July 2009. In email exchanges between the pair released on Friday, the disgraced financier suggested to Mountbatten Windsor on April 15 2010 that he meet the former JP Morgan executive Jes Staley, who was banned from the UK banking sector for life in June for misleading the watchdog over his relationship with Epstein.
Mountbatten Windsor replied that he would not be in the UK but would “make sure I meet [Staley] soon on another trip”.
The then-duke and Epstein were pictured together in Central Park in New York in December that year in a meeting that the former later called a “wrong decision”.
Andrew served in the navy for over 20 years, including as a helicopter pilot during the Falklands war. After Guiffre filed a civil case in New York three years ago, he stopped using most of his military titles but kept hold of the rank of vice-admiral. The navy pension is his only current source of declared income, after serving between 1979 and 2001. It is said to amount to £20,000 a year.
Buckingham Palace formally announced last week he would lose the titles of prince and Duke of York, as well as being made to leave his residence at Royal Lodge and into private accommodation in Sandringham.
Palace officials had worked with civil servants in the Cabinet Office to avoid the decision having to be taken by parliament, eventually agreeing that the king should abolish the dukedom entirely using his powers of royal prerogative.
The Guardian revealed on Friday that the king had approved a six-figure, one-off payment for his brother and was prepared to personally pay for an annual stipend, which sources said was intended to prevent him overspending in his new life as a commoner. They added that talks on the financial package were ongoing.
While the loss of his titles comes into effect immediately, the former prince is not expected to leave Royal Lodge until after Christmas, meaning he will not be present when the royals gather at Sandringham for the holiday.
