Change law so Prince Andrew loses dukedom, urge MPs

Sir Keir Starmer is facing mounting calls to pass a law to strip Prince Andrew of his dukedom.

The Prince gave up his Duke of York title, his knighthood and his role as a Royal Knight Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter on Friday.

However, he still retains his dukedom. Only an act of Parliament could remove it from Prince Andrew, who still keeps his prince title as the son of Queen Elizabeth II.

The King moved against his brother amid fears that a newly unearthed email sent to Jeffrey Epstein, the paedophile financier, would open the floodgates to more scandal, The Telegraph understands.

The Prince was forced to give up his remaining royal titles after it emerged he had stayed in touch with Epstein longer than he previously admitted.

Over the weekend, new details were revealed about how the Prince sought to throw into doubt claims by Virginia Giuffre, introduced to him by Epstein, that the pair had a sexual relationship.

The conflagration of sex assault claims, a friendship with a human-trafficking paedophile and a relentless drip of Chinese spy allegations became intolerable for palace and public.

Andrew Lownie, the Prince’s biographer, said the process to formally remove his titles was relatively simple and could only take a day.

“To make Andrew’s renunciation of the York title legal requires only a small amendment to the Peerage Act 1963,” Mr Lownie said.

“The act allows a peer to disclaim their peerage within 12 months of succeeding to it. An amendment would simply give the first holder of a hereditary peerage like Andrew’s – and indeed Harry as Duke of Sussex and maybe one or two others – the right to do the same within x days of the commencement of the act.

He said it was “Probably a one-day bill … no need for a long process”.

MPs are now going public with calls for a new law removing the dukedom.

Stephen Flynn, the SNP leader in Westminster, told The Telegraph: “The family of Virgina 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.”

Lord Mandelson was sacked as the UK ambassador to the US last month when it emerged he had written to Epstein urging him to seek early release from jail.

Lord Mandelson remains a peer. He said last month he regretted being taken in by Epstein’s deceptions.

The Mail on Sunday revealed that Prince Andrew passed on Giuffre’s social security number and date of birth to his taxpayer-funded Met Police bodyguard in an apparent attempt to find damaging information about her as the allegation surfaced in public.

A Labour MP and former shadow cabinet minister, who asked not to be named, also called for Prince Andrew to lose his dukedom via an act of Parliament.

The MP told The Telegraph: “I do think he ought to be stripped of all titles. He appears to have seriously misled people about his ongoing relationship with a convicted sex criminal. Even if he didn’t mislead the public, his emails after Epstein’s conviction are seriously misjudged and creepy.”

Rachael Maskell, the York Central MP who was elected under Labour last year but is currently without her party whip, said she was personally considering bringing a Bill.

Ms Maskell told The i Paper she was “minded” to bring a Removal of Titles Bill, which would give the Monarch or Parliament the power to revoke honours.

She said: “It would only be appropriate to bring forward legislation so that justice could be served.

“It seems clear that this would be welcomed by the Palace.”

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In political reality, such a law would only pass if the leadership of the Labour Party, which holds more than 400 of the 650 seats in the House of Commons, gets behind the move.

Ed Miliband, the Environment Secretary and former Labour leader, played down interest in the idea when he was interviewed on BBC One on Sunday morning.

Mr Miliband said: “I think we’ll be guided by the Royal Family on this. 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 [that] he’s given up his titles.”