From the BBC:
“Prince Andrew loses military
titles and use of HRH”
The Duke of York's military
titles and royal patronages have been returned to the Queen, Buckingham Palace
has said. Prince Andrew, 61, will also stop using the style His Royal Highness
in an official capacity, a royal source said. It comes as he faces a US civil
action over sexual assault allegations - claims he has consistently denied. A
source close to the duke said he would "continue to defend himself"
against the case brought in New York by Virginia Giuffre. A judge in the city
ruled on Wednesday that the case brought by Ms Giuffre could continue, after
the prince tried to have it dismissed.
Buckingham Palace said in a
statement: "With the Queen's approval and agreement, the Duke of York's
military affiliations and Royal patronages have been returned to the Queen. "The
Duke of York will continue not to undertake any public duties and is defending
this case as a private citizen." All Prince Andrew's roles have been
returned to the Queen with immediate effect, and will be redistributed to other
members of the Royal Family, a source said. A spokesperson for the Ministry of
Defence said it had no comment about the duke's military titles being handed
back to the Queen, and that it was a matter for the Palace. On Thursday, a
letter - released by anti-monarchy pressure group Republic - was signed by more
than 150 Royal Navy, RAF and Army veterans asking the Queen to strip Prince
Andrew of his eight British military titles.
Analysis box by Sean Coughlan,
royal correspondent The response from Buckingham Palace has been swift and
almost brutal. The Royal Family is being firmly distanced from the toxic
fall-out from the allegations against Prince Andrew. He will have to
defend himself against Virginia Giuffre as a private citizen, there will be no
more His Royal Highness in this court case. This is claimed to have been
by mutual agreement, a stepping back rather than something imposed. But
the military titles and royal roles will go to other members of the family,
which means they won't be coming back to Prince Andrew whatever the outcome.
The door is being closed on a return to public life. It's not yet
clear if this applies to his constitutional role as a "counsellor of
state", one of four royals who can undertake the Queen's official duties,
should she be unwell. The court case will still make headlines, and
there will be concerns it could cloud a jubilee year, but this unambiguous decision
will have already answered the inevitable calls for his removal from his
remaining public roles. Prince Andrew has strongly denied any wrongdoing
- and his representatives say that fighting the case is a "marathon and
not a sprint". Although this must feel like a huge and rapid
retreat.
The duke had a 22-year career in
the Royal Navy, and served as a helicopter pilot during the Falklands War. The
latest Palace announcement means he has lost military titles including Colonel
of the Grenadier Guards - one of the most senior infantry regiments in the
British army.
The other UK military titles
he no longer has include: Honorary air commodore of RAF Lossiemouth, Colonel-in-chief
of the Royal Irish Regiment, Colonel-in-chief of the Small Arms School
Corps, Commodore-in-Chief of the Fleet Air Arm, Royal colonel of
the Royal Highland Fusiliers, Deputy colonel-in-chief of The Royal
Lancers (Queen Elizabeths' Own), Royal colonel of the Royal Regiment of
Scotland. The duke also had several overseas honorary roles including
Colonel-in-chief of The Royal Highland Fusiliers Of Canada and Colonel-in-chief
of the Royal New Zealand Army Logistic Regiment. But he will retain his
service rank of Vice-Admiral, the Palace has confirmed. As an ex-member
of the armed forces, he was promoted in line with his still-serving peers and
made Vice-Admiral by the Navy on his 55th birthday in 2015. The duke was
due to be promoted to Admiral on his 60th birthday in 2020, but asked to defer
this after stepping back from public duties in 2019. At the time, the
Palace said his other military appointments had been suspended.
The chair of the House of Commons
Defence Select Committee, Tobias Ellwood, welcomed the return of the Duke of
York's military titles and royal patronages. He told the BBC's Newscast podcast
that the duke's change in status ahead of the US civil case was
"necessary" to protect the reputation of the military. "Prince
Andrew already had stepped back from many of his public duties - I think all of
them, as well - so I think this was anticipated, indeed it was expected, from
this perspective, so I'm actually not surprised. "It's important that the
problems that Prince Andrew has incurred aren't bled over into the regiments
that he was representing," Mr Ellwood said. Prince Andrew is seen leaving
his home for the first time since Judge Kaplan ruled that he should face the
civil charges brought against him by Virginia Giuffre, at Royal Lodge, Windsor,
Berkshire Journalist and former BBC
Royal correspondent Jenny Bond said she had not anticipated the prince losing
the titles. "Clearly pressure has been exerted on him, and pressure on the
Queen was growing for some action because of the disquiet within the military,
and people beginning to say 'we don't want to toast his health' at the end of
regimental dinners," she said.
Ms Giuffre claims the late
billionaire financier trafficked her to have sex with Prince Andrew when she
was 17. Ms Giuffre filed a civil case in New York in August 2021 under the
state's Child Victims Act, which allows survivors of childhood sexual abuse to
pursue a case which otherwise would have been barred because too much time had
passed. In court documents filed as part of her civil case against Prince
Andrew, Ms Giuffre said she was the victim of sex trafficking and abuse by the
convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. She alleged that part of her abuse
involved being loaned out to other powerful men. Ms Giuffre claims the late
billionaire financier trafficked her to have sex with Prince Andrew when she
was 17. She alleges the duke abused her on three occasions - both in the UK and
the US - when she was a minor under US law. In an interview with BBC Newsnight
in 2019, the Queen's second son said that he had no recollection of ever
meeting Ms Giuffre, and her account of them having sex in the US and UK
"didn't happen". The duke withdrew from public life shortly after the
interview, which he used to repeat his denials of Ms Giuffre's claims and
explain his one-time friendship with Epstein and the late financier's
girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell. Last month, Ms Maxwell was found guilty of
recruiting and trafficking underage girls to be sexually abused by Epstein.
^ It is only right that he lose
all his Royal Duties and Titles (in the UK and around the Commonwealth.) I feel
bad for his Victim as well as for his Mother (Queen Elizabeth.) I don’t see his court case just going away. ^
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.