The royals have made a quiet change to their official website following Andrew Mountbatten Windsor‘s loss of his titles on 30 October. The section called ‘The Role of The Royal Family’ no longer features the late Queen Elizabeth II’s disgraced son in its list of senior royals. It contains biographies of members such as the Prince and Princess of Wales, the King, Queen Camilla, the Duke of Kent and, up until recently, the former Prince Andrew (now known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor).
In an archived snapshot of the webpage from 7 September, Andrew, who was still referred to as the Duke of York at the time, appeared alongside Princess Alexandra and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. His picture linked back to a dedicated page that featured a biography on the former prince as well as the announcement surrounding Andrew’s decision to step back from life as a working royal in 2022.
“On 13 January 2022, Buckingham Palace announced that, with Queen Elizabeth II’s approval and agreement, The Duke of York’s military affiliations and Royal patronages would be returned to Her late Majesty, and The Duke would not return to public duties. Prior to stepping back from public life, The Duke of York undertook a wide range of public work, with a strong economic and business focus,” the text at the top of the page reads.
Beneath was a short biography of Andrew’s life, his military career, his role as Special Representative for International Trade and Investment. As well as this, his 2019 statement confirming that he would be stepping back from public duties for the foreseeable future as well as his 2022 announcement that his military affiliations and Royal patronages would be returned to the late Queen were also both linked on the page.
© www.royal.ukHowever, this page and any mention of Andrew on the official royal family listing have now been scrubbed. It comes just several days after the 30 October statement from Buckingham Palace that the King had initiated a formal process to remove the style, titles and honours of Prince Andrew.
“Prince Andrew will now be known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor. His lease on Royal Lodge has, to date, provided him with legal protection to continue in residence,” the statement read. “Formal notice has now been served to surrender the lease and he will move to alternative private accommodation. These censures are deemed necessary, notwithstanding the fact that he continues to deny the allegations against him.”
© Getty Images“Their Majesties wish to make clear that their thoughts and utmost sympathies have been, and will remain with, the victims and survivors of any and all forms of abuse,” the statement concluded. It came after years of scrutiny over the Queen’s second son over his ties to the deceased paedophile Jeffrey Epstein and his convicted accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell. The former Duke of York was connected to the disgraced financier as far back as 2001 and was named in documents in a U.S. civil case filed against Epstein in 2015.
LISTEN: HELLO!’s A Right Royal Podcast Dissects The Banishment of Andrew
In 2019, just months after Epstein was found dead in his prison cell, Andrew gave an interview with Emily Maitlis on Newsnight where he strenuously downplayed his connection to the deceased paedophile and denied Virginia Giuffre’s accusations. A year after Virginia filed a civil lawsuit against Andrew in the U.S. in 2021, Andrew was stripped of his military affiliations and royal patronages by the late Queen.
© Getty ImagesHELLO!’s Royal Editor Emily Nash shares her reaction to Andrew’s “remarkable fall” on The Royal Club and shares her predictions on the former Prince’s next moves, including his “exile” to Sandringham, what Sarah Ferguson will do next and what will come of Andrew’s place in the line of succession. Click on the link below to read now.
In 2025, private emails from Epstein’s Yahoo account were obtained by Bloomberg and the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) revealed Andrew had kept in touch with Epstein after his 2010 arrest. They also revealed the two men discussing the publication and circulation of the infamous photograph, which showed Andrew with his arm around Virginia.
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