MP examines historic laws to find way of stripping Prince Andrew of his Duke of York title

Rachael Maskell, the Labour MP for York Central, told The Yorkshire Post she was working with clerks in the House of Commons to find ways he could legally lose the title, bestowed on him by the Queen in 1986.

It comes days after Andrew’s legal team announced that the Duke had settled out of court with Virginia Giuffre in her civil sex claim against him for an undisclosed sum, rumoured to be eight figures.

Ms Giuffre, also known as Virginia Roberts, made the claim against Andrew for damages in her home country of the US, claiming she was trafficked by Jeffrey Epstein, Andrew’s friend, to have sex with the Royal when she was 17, a minor under US law.

Ms Maskell said: “I’ve sat down with clerks in the House of Commons to explore routes.

“There is precedent. In 1798, there was some legislation to remove a specific title from a specific person that got passed into law.

“And then there was the Deprivations of Titles Act in 1917, which was to strip members of the royal household who fought for Germany in the First World War. But we would need fresh legislation.

“You could bestow upon the Queen increased powers so she could remove titles as well as gift titles. Never did I think I’d be arguing for more powers to the Crown.”

The House of Commons does not debate the role of Royals, as set out in its rulebook Erskine May.

“The problem is we’re not allowed to talk about members of the Royal Family in Parliament. I have to be so careful with my language or I’ll get kicked out,” said Ms Maskell.

Ms Maskell said she believes Andrew should be stripped of all powers to influence the Crown.

She said: “He’s a counsellor of state. He could constitutionally play a very important role potentially.”

On Ms Giuffre, she said: “This was a woman that was made out to be untruthful, undermined, silenced and suppressed by a man who has a lot of power and privilege and a lot of money to get the best lawyers.”

It comes as councillors in York pledged to explore arrangements to remove the Honorary Freedom of the City given to Prince Andrew.

The Royal was handed the prestigious honour in 1987, but a motion to begin the process of removing the freedom of the city and calling for Andrew to relinquish his title as Duke of York will be submitted by Liberal Democrat councillors at a full council meeting on March 24.

York Council’s executive member for culture, leisure and communities, Coun Darryl Smalley, said: “We will be reaching out to MPs to raise our concerns and discuss any possible ways of ending Prince Andrew’s connection to York.”

Fellow Labour MP Andy McDonald said he intends to seek assurances in Parliament that public money will not be used to pay for the Duke of York’s settlement.

“We don’t know the precise figure but there is a risk that this will be at the public’s expense so we need to have that resolved. We need to know exactly where this money is coming from,” he told BBC2’s Newsnight.