UK's Prince Andrew offers up royal title

[ad_1] Prince Andrew of Britain on Friday renounced his title of Duke of York and different honours after being more and more embroiled in scandals round his ties to US intercourse offender Jeffrey Epstein.

"I'll ... not use my title or the honours which have been conferred upon me," Andrew, 65, mentioned in an announcement.

He mentioned his determination got here after discussions together with his brother, King Charles III, and his personal "quick and wider household".

"I've determined, as I all the time have, to place my obligation to my household and nation first," he mentioned.

He once more denied all allegations, however mentioned "we now have concluded the continued accusations about me distract from the work of His Majesty and the Royal Household".

Andrew, who stepped again from public life in 2019, will stay a prince, as he's the second son of the late queen Elizabeth II.

However he'll not maintain the title of Duke of York that she had conferred on him.

His ex-wife Sarah Ferguson may also not use the title of Duchess of York, although his daughters Beatrice and Eugenie stay princesses.

Learn extra Virginia Giuffre, outstanding Jeffrey Epstein intercourse abuse survivor, dies by suicide

The bombshell announcement got here after new allegations emerged this week within the posthumous memoir of Virginia Giuffre, the lady on the centre of the Epstein scandal.

She wrote that Andrew had behaved as if having intercourse together with her was his "birthright".

In "No person's Lady: A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Combating for Justice", Giuffre mentioned she had intercourse with Andrew on three separate events together with when she was beneath 18.

Giuffre rose to public prominence after alleging the disgraced US financier Epstein used her as a intercourse slave and that Andrew had assaulted her.

Andrew has repeatedly denied Giuffre's accusations and prevented trial by paying a multimillion-dollar settlement.

In extracts revealed by The Guardian this week, Giuffre describes assembly the prince in London in March 2001 when she was 17.

Andrew was allegedly challenged to guess her age, which he did accurately, including by means of clarification: "My daughters are just a bit youthful than you."

'Entitled' Giuffre and Andrew later went to the Tramp nightclub in London, the place she mentioned he was "kind of a bumbling dancer, and I bear in mind he sweated profusely".

They later returned to the London home of Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's affiliate and former girlfriend, the place that they had intercourse, she alleged.

"He was pleasant sufficient, however nonetheless entitled – as if he believed having intercourse with me was his birthright," Giuffre wrote.

Giuffre, a US and Australian citizen, took her personal life at her farm in Western Australia on April 25.

Andrew's affiliation with Epstein has left his fame in tatters and made him a supply of embarrassment to the king.

In a devastating 2019 tv interview, Andrew – as soon as feted as a good-looking conflict hero who served as a helicopter pilot within the Falklands Struggle – denied ever assembly Giuffre and defended his friendship with Epstein.