Victoria Ward
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor has been stripped of his last military title.
The United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence confirmed that the former Duke of York no longer held the honorary military rank of vice-admiral and had instead been reduced to the rank of commander (retired) Royal Navy.
John Healey, the defence secretary, previously announced that Andrew’s “last remaining title” would be removed by the government, on guidance from the King.
A spokesman for the MoD said: “Following formal consideration, (the) Defence Council have agreed the immediate reversion from the rank of vice-admiral to the rank of commander (retired) Royal Navy, the rank held on retirement from regular Royal Naval service by Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.
“This decision aligns with such processes as to remove other styles and titles.”
Andrew, a former naval helicopter pilot who flew in the Falklands conflict, was made a vice-admiral on his 55th birthday in 2015 and retained the rank after being forced to give up his other military affiliations in 2022.
He was previously commodore-in-chief of the Navy’s Fleet Air Arm and admiral of the Sea Cadet Corps. He also once held honorary military titles, including colonel of the Grenadier Guards.
But the late Queen Elizabeth II stripped him of all military titles and patronages in January 2022, shortly before he settled a high-profile civil claim with his sex abuse accuser, the late Virginia Giuffre for a reported £12 million ($24 million). Andrew denies wrongdoing.
At the time, the Queen allowed her son to remain a Counsellor of State, to retain his dukedom and service rank of vice-admiral, despite pressure to strip him of all remaining privileges.
The King later appointed his siblings – the Princess Royal and the Duke of Edinburgh – as Counsellors of State, as it was made clear that only working members of the family would ever be called upon to carry out the sovereign’s duties temporarily in the case of illness or overseas travel. Andrew’s role has since been described as “inactive”.
In October, in the face of mounting pressure over Andrew’s relationship with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, the King forced Andrew to relinquish his dukedom.
Having then “taken the public temperature” and recognised that he needed to act further, the monarch stripped his brother of all remaining royal titles, rendering him a commoner known simply as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, while also evicting him from Royal Lodge, his Windsor mansion.
The Telegraph revealed last month that Andrew would retain his Falklands War campaign medal alongside all operational service medals, after veterans warned it would be “morally indefensible” to take a medal earned through active service.
Telegraph, London
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