Prince Andrew to lose his ‘Duke of York’ title to sex abuse scandal?

Insiders privy to the British royal family say discussions are underway to strip Prince Andrew’s Duke of York title if the Queen’s son loses his sex abuse case to accuser Virginia Roberts, aka Virginia Giuffre, reported The Sunday Times.

According to a source close to the royal household, while it would be “difficult to persuade the Queen to remove the title of Duke of York” because it was held by her father and given to her favourite son, “he has disgraced that title.”

In addition, an insider was also quoted by The Sunday Times, saying, “If Prince Andrew loses the case, the question is what do you do with him? You can't make him resign like you would a normal person but he would be asked to put his dukedom into abeyance.”

However, a spokesman from the Buckingham Palace refused to comment on the same, saying, “This is speculation and the comments are without foundation. We would not comment on an ongoing legal matter.”

Apart from this, the royal family is reportedly also considering sending Andrew into an ‘internal exile’ as reported earlier.

Andrew is accused of having forced sexual relations with Ms Giuffre in 2001, and he also stepped down from public duties in 2019 following criticism over his friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.