Spanish
Prince Andrew of England will renounce his title of Duke of York and his membership in the Order of the Garter, due to the multiple accusations against him related to criminal acts he allegedly committed with financier Jeffrey Epstein, accused of sex trafficking of minors.
"Following conversations with the King and my immediate and wider family, we have come to the conclusion that the ongoing accusations against me are a distraction from the work of His Majesty and the Royal Family. I have decided, as always, to put my duty to my family and my country first. I stand by my decision of five years ago to withdraw from public life," he stated in his declaration, shared by The Guardian.
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Andrés was a regular figure at social gatherings with Epstein, whom he met in 1999. He visited the financier in New York, Florida, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and received him at Balmoral, Windsor Castle, Sandringham, and Royal Ascot. The relationship between the two has been the center of attention for a long time, especially after the accusation by Virginia Giuffre, who claimed that they abused her during her adolescence. However, he maintains that he had no knowledge of Epstein's crimes and denies having assaulted Giuffre. In 2021, she sued the prince in New York for sexual abuse. The solution was an out-of-court settlement, reportedly worth £12 million (16 million dollars). At that time, the scandal cost him his military titles and affiliations with charities, as well as the ban on using the honorary title of Royal Highness. Last Sunday, The Mail on Sunday revealed a message that Andrew had sent to Epstein the day after a photo of him with Giuffre was published. "Don't worry about me! It seems we are in this together and we will have to overcome it," the prince wrote to the financier on February 28, 2011. "Besides, keep in touch, and soon we will play a little more!!!!", he added in the same email, signing as "A, His Royal Highness the Duke of York". The message was sent three months after Prince Andrew had supposedly ceased all contact with the convicted financier, and it shows that he lied in an interview with the BBC, in which he claimed not to have had contact with the sex offender after they were photographed walking together in New York in December 2010.- Virginia Giuffre committed suicide in April 2025, at the age of 41, on her farm in Australia. She accused Epstein and his accomplice and ex-partner, Ghislaine Maxwell, of trafficking her for rich and powerful men, including Prince Andrew, when she was a teenager.
