Calls for Prince Andrew to lose Duke of York title reach Parliament

The Labour MP for York Central has submitted an Early Day Motion on the matter after receiving "many emails" from local residents calling for him to lose the title.

The motion is being supported by five other MPs, including Hull West MP Emma Hardy. It follows similar calls from the Liberal Democrat group which leads York City Council for the Prince to relinquish the dukedom after the Queen removed his royal patronages and military affliations as he awaits a civil lawsuit over sexual assault allegations in the US.

It comes as Prince Andrew's team deleted his Twitter account and set his Instagram to private. The Times reported that his Facebook account remains live but has not been updated since January 2020.The motion does not mention Prince Andrew by name but Ms Maskell said it has been submitted in direct response to the situation involving him. Andrew was given to his York dukedom by his mother on his wedding day in 1986.

Ms Maskell said: "I have received many emails from residents of York expressing their concerns that their city has not disassociated itself from Prince Andrew.

"When Her Majesty, The Queen, takes such clear and strong action in removing the titles from her son, and when our city clearly say that they want this association to end, it is right to call on Government to make this happen.

"The 1917 Titles Deprivation Act has already set the precedence for this, albeit for the act of treason, however it should be possible to either amend this act, or introduce a further piece of legislation, in order to progress this necessary action.”

The motion reads: "That this house acknowledges that geographically based titles can become an affront when an individual falls into disrepute and calls on the Government to introduce a mechanism in law whereby geographically based titles can be removed in certain circumstances such as when the individual’s associations, engagements or actions infringe the rights or safety of others, or are not in keeping with the ethical, social or economic values or interests of the place."

Early day motions are motions submitted for debate in the House of Commons for which no day has been fixed. As there is no specific time allocated to EDMs very few are debated and it is unclear whether this one will be.

But by attracting the signatures of other MPs, the motions can be used to demonstrate the level of parliamentary support for a particular cause or point of view.

The motion comes after York Racecourse announced plans to rename the Duke of York Stakes in a bid to distance itself from the Queen’s controversial second son.Even though the prestigious six-furlong sprint was named after another Duke of York – Prince George, Duke of York who became King George V – officials at the course are to attempt to make its history clearer.

Andrew was appointed the racecourse’s first patron in 2015, but gave up the position in 2019 after stepping down from public duties following his disastrous appearance on Newsnight.

Virginia Giuffre is suing the duke in the US for allegedly sexually assaulting her when she was a teenager.

She claims she was trafficked by the duke’s friend, convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, to have sex with Andrew when she was 17 and a minor under US law.

The duke has strenuously denied the allegations.

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