Such drastic measures of the royal family are due to the trial of sexual abuse of a minor.
The second son of Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain, Duke of York Andrew was forced to abandon his royal duties as patronage of a number of public organizations and lost all military ranks against the backdrop of rape charges against him in the United States.
This was announced on Thursday, January 13, at Buckingham Palace.
The official statement says that all military ranks and royal patronage of the Duke of York have been returned to the Queen.
A statement from Buckingham Palace regarding The Duke of York: pic.twitter.com/OCeSqzCP38
— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) January 13, 2022
Reuters sources also added that the 61-year-old prince also forfeits the right to be called “His Royal Highness.” His public duties as a member of the royal family will be redistributed among other representatives of the Windsor dynasty.
Such drastic measures against a member of the royal family were applied against the backdrop of a lawsuit in the United States, which is considering a civil lawsuit against the prince from the American Virginia Giuffre. She accuses the Duke of York of having sexual intercourse with her against her will several times when she was 17 years old.
The violence was allegedly coerced by American financier Jeffrey Epstein, who was an associate of Prince Andrew. Now Dzhufre demands compensation for physical and moral damage.
Epstein, an American, was detained by New York State law enforcement in July 2019. He was accused of sexual assault and the involvement of minors in prostitution. The prosecution was dropped following his suicide in a prison cell on August 10, 2019.
The Duke of York claims that he never met Giuffre, and the photo in which they were taken together in the company of Jeffrey Epstein's British girlfriend Ghilaine Maxwell is a fake. He will prove his case in court without the support of the royal family.
“The Duke of York will no longer perform any public duties and will defend himself in this matter as a private person,” Buckingham Palace said.
We will remind, earlier Prince Andrew’s lawyers said that the claim of the American Virginia Giuffre, who accused Andrew of rape, should be dismissed because she does not live in the USA, but in Australia and does not have the right to file a lawsuit in an American court.
