King Charles has stripped his younger brother Andrew of his title of prince and forced him out of his home by Windsor Castle, Buckingham Palace has announced, punishing him over his ties to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Andrew, 65, the younger brother of Charles and second son of the late Queen Elizabeth, has come under mounting pressure over his behaviour and ties to Epstein and earlier this month he was forced to stop using his title of Duke of York.
Charles has now escalated his actions against Andrew by stripping him of his titles, leaving him to be known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor.
The Buckingham Palace statement said a formal notice had now also been served on Andrew to surrender the lease of his Royal Lodge mansion on the Windsor Estate, west of London, and he will move to alternative private accommodation in eastern England.
"These censures are deemed necessary, notwithstanding the fact that he continues to deny the allegations against him," the palace said.
"Their Majesties wish to make clear that their thoughts and utmost sympathies have been, and will remain with, the victims and survivors of any and all forms of abuse."
Andrew was once regarded as a dashing naval officer and served in the military during the Falklands War with Argentina in the early 1980s.
But he was forced to step down from a roving UK trade ambassador role in 2011, before quitting all royal duties in 2019 and then was stripped of his military links and royal patronages in 2022 amid allegations of sexual misconduct that he has always denied.
That year, he settled a lawsuit brought by Virginia Giuffre, who took her own life in April, which accused him of sexually abusing her when she was a teenager. Andrew has always denied her account, which has recently returned to prominence with the release of her memoir.
In her book, she said "entitled" Andrew believed it was his birthright to have sex with her.
Earlier in October, correspondence between Andrew and Epstein from 2011, published by the Mail on Sunday and The Sun, revealed Andrew telling Epstein they should "keep in close touch" and that they would "play some more soon".
A palace source said while Andrew continued to deny the accusations against him, it was clear that there had been serious lapses of judgment. The source said the decision was taken by Charles but that the monarch had the support of the wider family, including heir-to-the-throne Prince William.
The decision to force Andrew to move away from Windsor was also significant after newspapers reported he had not paid rent on his 30-room mansion for two decades, after initially paying for renovations.
In a rare political intervention into the workings of the royal family, a British parliamentary committee had on Wednesday questioned whether Andrew should still be living in the house.
Polls show the royal family has been losing the support of younger generations for years. Charles, with the support of 43-year-old William, has acted to protect the institution, which experts say is the priority of any monarch.
In 1936, Edward VIII was forced to abdicate just over a year after ascending the throne so he could marry a divorced American socialite. He retained the title of Duke of Windsor but was largely banished from Britain.