PRINCE Andrew is to give up all his royal titles including the Duke of York according to reports after Palace chiefs were “considering all options” over his future.
King Charles’s disgraced brother has finally been booted out of the Firm days after The Sun revealed he was found to have lied about contact with his paedo pal Jeffrey Epstein.
It is understood he will do so having come under pressure from the King, The Telegraph reported.
Andrew told Epstein in an email on February 29 2011, a day after the infamous photo of him with alleged sex abuse victim Virginia Giuffre emerged, “we are in this together”.
The bombshell message proves the Duke lied when he told BBC Newsnight he ceased contact with the financier three months earlier.
During the interview in November 2019, he alleged he did not recall ever meeting Ms Giuffre, despite the photographic evidence from 2001 – and said he did not regret his friendship with Epstein.
He has remained in the shadows of the Firm ever since – but has always denied having sex with Ms Giuffre.
Prior to Friday’s meeting, Andrew had already been stripped of his military titles by his mum the late Queen Elizabeth in January 2022 while defending a civil sex case against Ms Giuffre, which saw him come to a multimillion pound settlement.
He was banned from being a working royal and prevented from using his HRH title.
It comes after we also published extracts this week from the late Ms Giuffre’s beyond the grave new autobiography in which she is expected to reiterate she was allegedly trafficked to him as a teenager and he saw it as his “birth right” to have sex with her.
Ms Guiffre’s book – written before her death aged 41 in April – is also expected to claim the Duke said “thank you” in a “clipped British accent” after the alleged encounter when she was 17.
Ms Giuffre will outline the three occasions she says she was trafficked to have sex with shamed Andrew in Nobody’s Girl, which is released on October 21.
And, shockingly, she is expected to tell how Epstein trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell is said to have lavished praise on her the morning after the first encounter saying: “You did well, the prince had fun.”
In her memoir, she will give a detailed account of her claimed first meeting with Andrew on March 10, 2001.
Ms Giuffre says it came after she flew back from Tangiers, Morocco to London with paedophile Epstein and Andrew’s pal Maxwell.
She says they headed to Maxwell’s home in Belgravia, where the Brit socialite made her feel “like Cinderella” as she was due to meet a handsome prince.
Andrew’s axing
The Sun revealed earlier on Friday “all options” were on the table amid the discussions as “frustrated and exasperated” palace chiefs believed now was time to draw a line under Andrew’s sex abuse scandal.
There was hope the Prince would “do the decent thing” and “fall on his sword” before the Palace was forced to act.
But he was warned there was only a small “window of opportunity”.
A royal source said before the decision was finalised: “Considering all options is exactly what is happening.
“There is a feeling that something must be done. Discussions are taking place. Options are being considered.”
Following The Sun’s revelations, there were growing fears of what else could emerge that show Andrew has lied about his contact with Epstein – before Charles finally washed his hands of his younger sibling.
The Duke could be banished from the country in the way that former King Edward VIII, the-then Duke of Windsor, spent his days in Bahamas and then France with Wallis Simpson after his abdication and allegations of Nazi sympathies.
TIMELINE OF TROUBLE
1999: Andrew introduced to Epstein through Ghislaine Maxwell. He is invited to Balmoral.
2000: Duke joins pair at Donald Trump’s Florida resort. Epstein a guest at Windsor Castle.
2001: Virginia Roberts Giuffre, then 17, claims Epstein trafficked her to London where she had sex with Andrew at Ghislaine’s flat.
2005: Florida police launch probe into claims Epstein paid underage girls for sex at his home.
2006: Epstein attends Beatrice’s 18th party shortly after warrant is issued for his arrest.
2008: Epstein admits prostituting minors and gets 18 months’ jail.
2010: Released and Andrew stays at his New York home.
2011: Duke quits as UK trade envoy over Epstein links.
2015: Ms Giuffre names Andrew in legal papers. Claims later struck from US civil court records.
2019: Legal papers reveal Johanna Sjoberg claims royal touched her breast at Epstein’s home in 2001.
JULY 2019: Epstein sex trafficking arrest.
AUG 2019: He dies in jail. Andrew “appalled” by claims against his pal, adding “at no stage” did he “see or suspect” any criminal behaviour.
NOV 2019: BBC airs Andrew “car crash” interview. Charities cut ties. He quits as senior royal.
JAN 2020: US prosecutor Geoffrey Berman accuses Andrew of zero cooperation. In March he says royal has “shut the door” on helping.
APRIL 2020: US prosecutors open talks with the Home Office, revealed by The Sun.
JUNE 2020: US officially demands Britain hand over Prince Andrew to be quizzed over his links to billionaire paedophile pal Jeffrey Epstein.
DECEMBER 2021: A court hears Prince Andrew took a flight on one of Jeffrey Epstein’s private jets with an alleged sex slave
JANUARY 2022: The Queen strips Andrew of his military titles and royal patronages.
MARCH 2022: Andrew pays Virginia Giuffre a multi-million-pound out-of-court settlement.
DECEMBER 2024: A “close confidant” of Prince Andrew loses appeal on UK ban.
JANUARY 2025: Bombshell messages reveal Andrew was still in touch with Epstein months after New York visit.
Spy scandal
Earlier this year, Andrew was also caught up in a Chinese spy scandal.
Andrew cultivated Chinese officials, including seeking advice from a communist minister and having covert meetings with the country’s ambassador, according to documents released in February.
His relationship with alleged Chinese spy Yang Tengbo – who helped broker deals – was ruled a “threat to national security”.
The ordeal raised concerns that Andrew was willing to use his royal status for his own private benefit regardless of the risk of compromising Britain’s security interests.
Documents retrieved from Yang’s phone show the duke wanted to speak to a senior Chinese minister while planning to launch an international think tank.
The plans were leaked to Jiang Jianguo, a minister of China’s State Council Information Office, in 2019.
Andrew also hoped to leverage the Firm’s reputation to raise $3billion (£2.4bn) of international financing for a pot to “break unproductive technological and talent blockades against China”, the papers revealed.
