Buckingham Palace announced Thursday that Andrew, the son of Queen Elizabeth, has been stripped of his titles, military duties and royal privileges and that he is no longer known as "His Royal Highness", as the prince battles a legal battle in the United States after he was accused of sexual assault.
Andrew, 61, the Duke of York, was forced to relinquish his public duties in 2019 in connection with the late American businessman Jeffrey Epstein, who was convicted in a sex case.
Thursday's move by the palace means the prince will now lose all ties to the royal family.
"With the permission and consent of the Queen, the Duke of York's military responsibilities and royal privileges have been returned to the Queen," Buckingham Palace said in a statement, adding that the Queen's son would continue "not to perform any public functions and will defend his cause as a private citizen."
The move came shortly after a petition signed by more than 150 British Army veterans asking the Queen to strip the former helicopter pilot of his military ranks and titles.
In the petition published by the anti-monarchy group Republic, the veterans wrote that Prince Andrew had failed to live up to the duties of "integrity, honesty and honorable conduct" that British military personnel were supposed to have.
Virginia Joffrey with her lawyer after a court session (Reuters)
lawsuit
A US judge on Wednesday rejected an attempt by Prince Andrew to drop a lawsuit brought by Virginia Geoffrey, accusing him of sexually assaulting her when she was 17 and when she was exploited by the late financier Jeffrey Epstein.
Andrew denies allegations that Geoffrey forced her to have sex more than two decades ago at the London home of Epstein's ex-aide Ghislaine Maxwell, or that he mistreated her on two other Epstein properties.
For its part, the British Broadcasting Corporation "BBC" (BBC), quoting a source close to the prince (it did not name him), said that Prince Andrew will continue to defend himself against these allegations.
Epstein has been charged in the United States with trafficking minors for the purpose of sexual exploitation, and conspiracy to engage in such trafficking.
In July 2019, a court in Manhattan, New York, after hearing Epstein's statements, ordered him to remain in custody and not to release him on bail, and at the end of the same month he was found in a prison cell almost unconscious and with injuries to his neck, and he died after that.
Investigations at the time indicated that Epstein's death was a suicide.