Epstein files: Prince Andrew gives up title of Duke of York

LONDON: Britain’s Prince Andrew said on Friday he would give up using his title of Duke of York following years of criticism about his behaviour and connections to the late disgraced US financier Jeffrey Epstein.

““With His Majesty’s agreement, we feel I must now go a step further. I will therefore no longer use my title or the honours which have been conferred upon me. As I have said previously, I vigorously deny the accusations against me,” Andrew said in a statement.

Explaining his decision, he added, “In discussion with the king, and my immediate and wider family, we have concluded the continued accusations about me distract from the work of His Majesty and the Royal Family.”

Read more: Epstein files: Victims compile list sexual abusers as Trump says it’s a hoax

The move comes just days before the publication of a posthumous memoir by Virginia Giuffre, which is likely to cast further attention on Prince Andrew’s involvement with Giuffre and Epstein.

NO BODY’S GIRL

The book, Nobody’s Girl, is set to be published next week, nearly six months after Giuffre took her own life in April at the age of 41.

In the memoir, she details three occasions, according to the excerpts published by The Guardian, where she alleges Prince Andrew had sex with her, including at Ghislaine Maxwell’s London home in March 2001 when she was 17.

Describing what happened after a night out at Tramp nightclub, she writes of the Prince: “He was friendly enough, but still entitled – as if he believed having sex with me was his birthright.”

The book’s publication is a fresh source of embarrassment for Prince Andrew, who has always vehemently denied the allegations and reached a multi-million-pound financial settlement with Giuffre in 2022 to end a civil case she had brought against him.

“I can absolutely categorically tell you it never happened,” Andrew said of the allegations in his 2019 BBC Newsnight interview. “I can tell you categorically I don’t remember meeting her at all.”

Giuffre’s memoir also provides her account of the now-infamous photograph showing her with Prince Andrew and Ghislaine Maxwell.

Read more: ‘Epstein files’ explained: Why Trump is under pressure

“I remember the prince putting his arm around my waist as Maxwell grinned beside me. Epstein snapped the photo,” she writes.

‘MASTER MANIPULATOR’

In the book, she describes Epstein as a “master manipulator” who preyed on vulnerable young women, and she dismisses claims from those in his circle who said they were unaware of his activities.

“Epstein not only didn’t hide what was happening, he took a certain glee in making people watch,” she writes.

She also reveals the personal toll of her time with Epstein, writing that she was taking up to eight Xanax pills a day to cope.

She explains that many of the girls he targeted were poor, homeless, or had histories of childhood abuse, making them susceptible to his pretence of care.

Jeffrey Epstein died in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial.

Maxwell is currently serving a prison sentence for sex trafficking.

It’s a developing story. Details to follow.