Prince Andrew: Parliament should strip royal of Duke of York title, MP says
A York MP has suggested that Parliament should go further to formally strip Prince Andrew of his titles.
The disgraced royal announced on Friday that he would no longer use the title Duke of York, and renounce his place in the order of the Knights of the Garter.
It came after a tumultuous few weeks for the Prince following further revelations about the nature of his friendship with notorious paedophile Jeffrey Epstein and the publication of Virginia Giuffre’s posthumous memoirs.
Formally stripping him of the title would require an Act of Parliament but the King is believed to view the largely symbolic move as a waste of parliamentary time and the Government has said it will be guided by the royal family’s views.
But York Central MP Rachael Maskell has suggested that Houses of Commons and Lords could come together to formally remove the titles.
She said: "I have long called for the title of the Duke of York to be removed in the light that it carries an ambassadorial association with our city. York is England’s only UN Human Rights City and stands for a higher set of values and when polled, 80 per cent of York residents voted for the removal of the title.
"Having sought to change the law through my Removal of Titles Bill, I now think it is time for this legislation, which provides the King new powers to be able to remove titles or for a grand committee of both Houses of Parliament to make a recommendation to the King to remove a title."
She told BBC Radio 4’s Today: “I do think it is for Parliament to act.
“I presume the technicalities of that would be that there would have to be a conversation between the Palace and Parliament to indicate that the King was willing to assume those powers.
“But of course, Parliament could press forward with action and legislation if it so chose. And I think we need to find a mechanism in order to achieve that. The private members’ route would be one such measure.”
The SNP’s Stephen Flynn said he would “not sit silent” while the family of Virginia Giuffre, and the British public, are “angry and aghast”.
He called for legislation to be used against both Andrew and Lord Mandelson, the former UK ambassador to the US who was sacked due to his own ties with paedophile financier Epstein.
Mr Flynn said: “The family of Virginia Giuffre, whose life was destroyed, are angry and aghast.
“The public across these isles are angry and aghast and they both deserve to know that some MPs share their outrage.
“So I won’t sit silent. If an Act of Parliament is required to strip the likes of Peter Mandelson and Prince Andrew of their titles, then there can be no justification from this Labour Government as to why that is not immediately happening.”
The Government has indicated that it would not introduce any legislation to strip Andrew of his titles unless the King wanted to.
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson told Today: “We would be guided by the royal family in this and I imagine the royal family would want Parliament to continue to dedicate our time to our wider legislative programme, but we will be guided by the monarch.
“It’s why we do support the statement that was issued and the action that has been taken. But of course, Prince Andrew holds the title of prince because he is the son of a monarch, and that’s the situation that we have.”
On Sunday, Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said: “I think the royal family have said that they didn’t want to take up parliamentary time with this; there are lots of other things that parliament is discussing, I think it’s right he’s given up his title.”