الملكة إليزابيث تجرد الأمير أندرو من كافة رتبه العسكرية وألقابه الملكية للخضوع للمحاكمة
الملكة إليزابيث تجرد الأمير أندرو من كافة رتبه العسكرية وألقابه الملكية للخضوع للمحاكمة بتهم الإعتداء الجنسي المرفوعة عليه من فتاة في أمريكا
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Prince Andrew was stripped of his military and royal titles Thursday — a day after a Manhattan judge allowed the sexual assault lawsuit against the disgraced royal to move forward.
“With The Queen’s approval and agreement, The Duke of York’s military affiliations and Royal patronages have been returned to The Queen,” Buckingham Palace said of the 61-year-old prince.
A royal source confirmed that Andrew would no longer use the title “His Royal Highness” in any official capacity and his other roles would be distributed among other members of the Royal family. He is, however, still listed on the royal family’s official website as being ninth in line to the throne.
“The Duke of York will continue not to undertake any public duties and is defending this case as a private citizen,” the palace said of the sex-assault lawsuit against him.
Andrew’s monarch mom had already barred her middle son from performing royal duties amid the severe backlash sparked by his disastrous 2019 BBC interview justifying his friendship with pedophile Jeffrey Epstein and now-convicted madam Ghislaine Maxwell.
However, the prince, a former Royal Navy helicopter pilot who flew in the 1982 Falklands War, initially retained his military titles.
They included vice admiral of the Royal Navy and honorary colonel of the Grenadier Guards, the stoic soldiers famed for guarding Buckingham Palace in their distinctive bearskin hats and red tunics.
The queen’s decision Thursday followed mounting calls for him to finally lose those titles.
Prince Andrew was stripped of his military and royal titles as he prepares to defend himself in a sex-assault lawsuit.
This week, more than 150 veterans signed an open letter calling for the move, saying he had brought the armed services he represented into disrepute.
“We understand that he is your son, but … please do not leave it any longer,” the letter urged the queen, who is head of the British armed forces.
“All of us have served our country and are proud to have done so. For that reason, we are particularly upset and angry that Prince Andrew remains a member of the armed forces and continues to hold military titles,” the veterans wrote.
“Officers of the British armed forces must adhere to the very highest standards of probity, honesty and honorable conduct. These are standards which Prince Andrew has fallen well short of,” the letter said.
“We are therefore asking that you take immediate steps to strip Prince Andrew of all his military ranks and titles and, if necessary, that he be dishonorably discharged.”
Thursday’s announcement also came a day after Andrew lost his bid to dismiss a sex assault lawsuit filed by Virginia Roberts Giuffre in Manhattan federal court.
Prince Andrew will likely be asked about ‘private parts’ in sex assault case: lawyers
A source close to the prince told The Post Thursday that he was “unsurprised by the ruling” Wednesday given the way the judge had greeted their arguments with “robustness” at an earlier hearing.
The source also stressed that “it was not a judgment on the merits of Ms. Giuffre’s allegations.”
“This is a marathon, not a sprint, and the Duke will continue to defend himself against these claims,” the source said.
Giuffre, now 38, has long claimed that Epstein and Maxwell made her have “disgusting” sex with the royal three times, starting in 2001 when she was just 17. The prince has never been criminally charged.
Andrew’s lawyers insist he “unequivocally denies Giuffre’s false allegations against him.”
He has never been charged criminally, but the lawsuit is set to go to trial in Manhattan federal court later this year.
With Post wires and Sara Nathan
