Prince Andrew, the brother of King Charles III, has announced that he is stepping down from his royal titles, including the Duke of York, after consulting with the monarch and his close family.

Andrew, who will remain a prince, had previously stepped back from public life following the allegations linking him to Jeffrey Epstein, the late New York financier convicted of sex crimes involving minors.

“We have concluded that the ongoing allegations against me distract from the work of Her Majesty and the Royal Family. I have decided, as always, to prioritize my duty to my family and my country. I stand by my decision of five years ago to step back from public life,” Andrew said in a statement released Friday, explaining his decision to take a further step.

“I will therefore cease to use the titles and honors that have been conferred on me. As I have said previously, I categorically deny the allegations against me.”

Andrew has come under intense scrutiny for his ties to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, including questions about when they actually cut off contact.

In his 2019 BBC Newsnight interview, Prince Andrew declared that he had severed all ties with Epstein after they were photographed together in New York in December 2010.

However, months later, emails emerged suggesting that Andrew had been in private contact with Epstein, including an alleged exchange in which he said, “Keep in close touch and we’ll be playing again soon!”

Old accusations resurface

Friday’s announcement comes days before the publication of a posthumous memoir by Virginia Giuffre, one of Jeffrey Epstein’s accusers, nearly six months after she took her own life.

Excerpts from the book, “Nobody’s Girl,” were published Wednesday in Britain’s The Guardian.

In the book,Calls Epstein a “master manipulator” and alleges that Prince Andrew had sex with her on at least three occasions, including at Ghislaine Maxwell’s London home.

This is a further embarrassment for Prince Andrew, who reached a financial settlement with Giuffre in 2022 and has always denied any wrongdoing.

Giuffre, who met Jeffrey Epstein through Ghislaine Maxwell, claimed to be one of many vulnerable girls and young women who had been sexually exploited by Epstein and his circle of wealthy contacts.

Epstein’s powerful friends are claimed to have included Prince Andrew, and the extract published in The Guardian recounts their meeting in London in March 2001, when she was 17.

Prince Andrew denies all the allegations against him.

A “public humiliation”

Analysis by Daniela Relph, Senior Royal Correspondent, BBC News

In a long line of public humiliations, this is another, and the most significant.

Prince Andrew had already lost his role as a working Royal, as well as his military titles and his position at virtually every public event connected with the Royal Family.

But now the titles he was so proud of are also lost: the Duke of York and the Order of the Garter.

The pomp and ceremony of royal life mattered to him. His titles filled him with immense personal pride.

But the trickle of accusations and negative headlines was relentless.

It was a constant distraction that drew attention away from the work of other members of the Royal Family.