If there’s any silver lining to the grim and sordid headlines that the ‘Andrew Problem’ has generated over recent years, at least the late Queen Elizabeth was not around to witness the final downfall of her beloved House of York and her rumoured ‘favourite son’ – finally cut loose by King Charles and his nephew, William last Friday.

After a week dominated by even more jaw-dropping revelations about his friendship with the convicted sex offender, the late Jeffrey Epstein, questions about his finances and his dealings with an alleged Chinese spy, all overshadowing the Royal Family’s good work, the final trigger was pulled and a Buckingham Palace statement issued.

“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. I have decided, as I always have, to put my duty to my family and country first. I stand by my decision five years ago to stand back from public life.

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.”

From immediate effect, Andrew will no longer be known as the Duke of York and is stepping down from membership of the Order of the Garter – the country’s most ancient order of chivalry. (Read what it’s like to attend Garter Day, here.) He also relinquishes his position as Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victoria Order. However, he will remain a prince, having been born the son of Queen Elizabeth.

It was as The Guardian’s Stephen Bates said: “Shorn of title, status and dignity…in the end it was the Windsors’ genteel version of the revolver in the locked room with a bottle of whisky.”

He was stripped of his royal patronages and military titles in January 2022, though he continued to appear at some public occasions with the royals and family events . While the royals can’t stop him attending church – as he did for the Duchess of Kent’s funeral recently (where William did his best to ignore him) – he will not join the royal family for the traditional Christmas church service and celebrations at Sandringham.

Last weekend, the Mail on Sunday revealed that Andrew had publicly lied in the now-infamous BBC Newsnight interview in 2019, when he claimed he never had contact with Epstein again following a ‘final’ meeting with him in December 2010. It obtained emails sent 12 weeks after that meeting in which Andrew contacted the sex offender to reassure him, the day after a picture of the prince with Ms Giuffre was published, that ‘we are in this together’ and would have to ‘rise above it’. Andrew concluded: ‘Otherwise keep in close touch and we’ll play some more soon!!!’ It was signed ‘A, HRH The Duke of York, KG’, as a knight of the Order of the Garter.

This was the tipping point. According to Kate Mansey, The Times assistant editor, as soon as Charles realised he had the unwavering support of William and other senior members of the royal family, the pressure was on. It was time for Andrew to “fall on his sword” and spare the royals any further public humiliation and relinquish his remaining titles.

Next week, Virginia Giuffre’s (who took her own life in April this year) posthumous memoir called, Nobody’s Girl, will be published. She alleged that the prince had sex with her at his friend Ghislaine Maxwell’s house in London in 2001, when she was 17 years old. Her memoir describes two other occasions on which she alleges she had sex with Andrew – in Epstein’s townhouse in New York and on Epstein’s private island in the US Virgin Islands.

Andrew made a financial payment to Ms Giuffre in an out-of-court settlement in 2022, after she had brought a civil case against him. He denies all the accusations made against him. Virginia’s family members said: “We, the family of Virginia Roberts Giuffre, believe that Prince Andrew’s decision to give up his titles is vindication for our sister and survivors everywhere. This decisive action is a powerful step forward in our fight to bring Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell’s child sex-trafficking network to justice. This moment serves as victory for Virginia, who consistently maintained, “He knows what happened, I know what happened, and there’s only one of us telling the truth, and I know that’s me.”

The fall of the House of York – what this means for Beatrice & Eugenie

• Prince Andrew had already ceased to be a “working royal” and had lost the use of his HRH title and no longer appeared at official royal events. We may never see him at private family events. His title is now what he was born with and would require an Act of Parliament to remove.

• Sarah, Duchess of York, his ex-wife, who will be known as Sarah Ferguson. A source close to Sarah said she had always used her maiden name professionally and had “fallen into line” behind Andrew’s decision. “It won’t actually affect her in any way and she remains supportive of him,” they said.

• Much to the King’s frustration, Andrew will stay in his 30-bedroom Windsor home, Royal Lodge, on which he has his own private lease which runs until 2078.

• Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie are blood princesses and will retain the use of their titles. King Charles is said to be very fond of his nieces and was determined that their titles would be wholly unaffected by the changes to their mum and dad’s titles. Princess Beatrice remains Her Royal Highness Princess Beatrice, Mrs Edoardo Mapelli-Mozzi. Princess Eugenie remains Her Royal Highness Princess Eugenie, Mrs Jack Brooksbank.

• The sad end to House of York. The dukedom was a wedding gift from the late Queen to Andrew and Sarah in 1986. Traditionally, the second-born sons of reigning monarchs have inherited the dukedom. Queen Elizabeth’s father was Albert, Duke of York before he reigned as George VI and his father, George V was also a Duke of York.

William and Kate have a Royal Bake Off

We love seeing the Prince and Princess of Wales on joint engagements and even more so, when they genuinely look happy. This week they went to Northern Ireland and whilst there, visited Long Meadow Cider, a family farm in County Armagh, where they rolled up their sleeves and had a go at making potato apple bread.

And they obviously had a great time, as they were snapped roaring with laughter throughout the visit. They picked apples, tried the cider and then had a Royal Bake Off, where they had onlookers giggling. After joking he was going to cut his fingers off, William heckled Catherine and told her, “Do keep up,” before admitting his dough was less a circle and more a rectangle. “A circle? Now you tell me!” he declared, adding, “If you look this way it looks like a circle. This is a new variety!”

As to be expected, Kate quietly got on with it and rolled-out a perfect round of dough, leaving William to declare, “How does that look like a circle, when this is a rectangle?”

“What an honour,” posted the McKeever family on Instagram. “It was a true pleasure to showcase our family-run business and to welcome them to our family farm. Their warmth and genuine interest made it a truly special day for everyone here at Long Meadow – a day we’ll remember for years to come.”

“Fun to partake in the baking of a traditional potato apple cake at Long Meadow Farm… Thank you to the McKeever family for having us!” the Wales’ posted.

Royals unite the world

All anyone hopes for at present is a united world, right? So it’s pertinent that the Royal Family continues to be at the forefront of maintaining international relations. An impartial statesperson can have an effective role in international diplomacy and this week demonstrates that more than ever, as the King met with indigenous leaders from Australia and Brazil, the President of Fiji and announced a state visit from Germany. Plus the King and Queen will visit the Pope and the Holy See next week, in Italy. The Prince and Princess of Wales, meanwhile, welcomed Crown Prince Al Hussein bin Abdullah II of Jordan and HRH Princess Rajwa to Windsor.

Louis declines being King of Conkers

We can always rely on Prince Louis to lighten the mood and this week he’s come good again, with his love of conkers possibly our favourite story (followed closely by Camilla and Peter Rabbit, more on that next).

Last month, Catherine revealed Louis was nuts about conkers, saying: “We keep finding conkers in cupboards, in his bed – conkers everywhere.” Apparently, like any self-respecting seven-year-old he even puts conkers in his toy trucks.

This news was catnip to the organisers of the World Conker Championships who then wrote to Catherine and William, asking if Louis fancied being their honorary patron. This prompted a very sweet reply from Kensington Palace, with the Prince and Princess declining what would have been Louis’s first official role. A palace spokesman said: “We really appreciate the invitation but currently Prince Louis is ‘conker-trating’ on his studies.”

But that’s not where a royal link to conkers ends. In fact, Charles saved the day by sending more than 300 conkers to this year’s championships after he heard it was in danger of not going ahead. It seems the UK’s dry summer meant larger horse chestnut tree conkers were scarce on the ground. FYI: The World Conker Championships were founded in 1965 and have so far raised £485,000 for charities helping people living with visual impairments.

Camilla parties with Peter Rabbit

On Wednesday, as patron of BookTrust and an avid reader, Camilla hosted a hoppy-happy reception at Clarence House to celebrate its centenary, alongside a very special guest, Peter Rabbit. Through BookTrust’s programme, Bookstart Baby, a book is given to every child in the UK before their first birthday. This year’s title is Four Happy Bunnies, a brand new Peter Rabbit story created exclusively for the programme. Hoppy times!