Prince Andrew has officially been stripped of his royal title and has been ordered out of his Windsor mansion—the latest fallout from his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.
The 65-year-old will now go by Andrew Mountbatten Windsor and is moving to a property on the private Sandringham estate in Norfolk, reports the BBC.
Buckingham Palace announced in a statement, “Prince Andrew will now be known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor. His lease on Royal Lodge has, to date, provided him with legal protection to continue in residence. Formal notice has now been served to surrender the lease, and he will move to alternative private accommodation.”
It continued, “These censures are deemed necessary, notwithstanding the fact that he continues to deny the allegations against him.”
The decision is intended to draw a line under one of the most contentious chapters in the modern royal family, one that has come to symbolize the gulf between public accountability and inherited privilege.
“Finally, it looks like the palace has done the right thing,” said the Daily Beast’s royal expert, Tom Sykes.
Andrew’s reputation, battered by years of controversy, never recovered from his association with Epstein, a convicted sex offender. A 2019 BBC Newsnight interview—an attempted justification that ended in catastrophe—cemented his fall from grace.
Andrew’s friendship with Epstein, the financier and convicted sex offender, and his subsequent legal settlement with Virginia Giuffre, who accused him of sexual assault, turned him into a pariah. Stripped of military titles and forced to step back from public duties, he retreated behind the walls of Royal Lodge.
The siblings of Giuffre, who took her own life in April, released a statement about Andrew’s eviction and loss of titles.
“Today, an ordinary American girl from an ordinary American family, brought down a British prince with her truth and extraordinary courage,” her siblings said. “Virginia Roberts Giuffre, our sister, a child when she was sexually assaulted by Andrew, never stopped fighting for accountability for what had happened to her and to countless other survivors like her.”
They continued, “Today, she declares victory.”
Fervor around Epstein and Andrew’s relationship was reignited this month when it was revealed that Windsor and his former wife—Sarah, Duchess of York, who has also been stripped of her title—continued speaking with Epstein beyond what had been previously claimed.
The couple’s daughters, Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice, will retain their titles.
Andrew’s new digs will be “privately funded” by his brother, King Charles. It will be more than 100 miles away from the royal estate he called home for decades.
Sykes was told this week that Andrew was being “uncooperative” about leaving Royal Lodge, but pressure to evict him from the home was unrelenting.
“I think it’s very clear that he has been very uncooperative, and this has been wrung out of him,” Sykes said. “And I think you can tell that by the very cold phrasing and the very deliberate phrasing here.”
Royal Lodge, nestled deep in Windsor Great Park, is a magnificent 30-room home that sits on 90 acres of parkland and dates back to the 1830s. It has long been associated with the heart of the royal family.
If Andrew had occupied the property for the full 75-year term, his initial outlay would average about $138,000 per year—a fraction of the market rent for a 90-acre royal estate.
The property includes sweeping lawns, six staff cottages, private security, and a police post, all within Windsor Great Park’s restricted boundaries.
It was home to Queen Elizabeth II’s mother for half a century, a place of afternoon teas, corgis, and garden parties until she died in 2002.
When the queen died, the Crown Estate—effectively the state’s property manager for royal lands—leased the house to Andrew, who was then in his early forties and still a full-time working royal.
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