Prince Andrew should be stripped of his title of Duke of York, Labor MP demands

Despite public dismay, Prince Andrew continues to wear his title as Duke of York even after many of his other titles have been removed by the Queen

Prince Andrew’s title of Duke of York should be removed, an MP has demanded.

Labor’s Rachel Maskell introduced new bill to Parliament to strip Prince Andrew of the title of Duke of York.

The York Central MP is seeking to introduce the Title Removal Act to give the monarch new powers to remove titles or a parliamentary committee to determine that a title should be removed.

At the moment there is no such mechanism for title removal and despite public dismay, Prince Andrew continues to bear his title as Duke of York – even after many of his other titles have been removed by his mother, the Queen.

Earlier this year, Andrew paid a settlement with Virginia Giuffre, who accused him of having sex with her when she was trafficked by pedophile billionaire Jeffrey Epstein.

As part of the settlement, Andrew accepted no blame and he has always denied any wrongdoing.

The bill will work by addressing a deficiency in the law and allowing titles to be removed – and is due to go to second reading on Friday 9 December.

It will also address widespread concerns about the inability to have people convicted of criminal offenses stripped of their peerage, as well as concerns that a Russian oligarch could sit in the Lords after being awarded a peerage by the Prime Minister.

Similar legislation was passed more than 100 years ago, the Deprivation of Titles Act in 1917, allowing Parliament to remove the title of those who fought against the British in World War I.

However, the law applied only to those who “have wielded arms against His Majesty or His allies, or have joined with His Majesty’s enemies”.

Earlier this year, a survey conducted by York Press found that 80 per cent of local residents would like the association of Andrew, the current Duke of York, to be separated from our city, not least because of the ambassadorial role it occupies.

In April of that year, York City Council stripped him of his city’s liberty.

Rachael Maskell said: “York is a human rights city and residents made it clear to me in February that they wanted the title of Duke of York stripped of Andrew, the Queen’s second son, following revelations about his personal affairs.

“I have heard from the city and have tried to find ways of removing such a title, but without new legislation it will not be possible. Not even the Queen, when she stripped him of all other titles, could strip him of his duchy. This legislation will therefore allow either the monarch or a committee of Parliament to remove titles from disgraced holders of those titles.

“For months, York as a city has been demanding the end of its association with Prince Andrew. Having explored all other avenues, it is clear that we can only achieve this with an Act of Parliament.”

“As MP for York Central, I have taken the opportunity to introduce this bill which I hope will finally allow us to sever all ties with the Prince. A cross-party group of local councilors worked to strip him of the city’s freedom, and I hope colleagues across the House will work with me to introduce this important bill.”