🔗 Share this article

Prince Andrew is relinquishing his designations, including the Duke of York, he has announced in a individual message.

He has been under mounting attention over his connections with convicted criminal Epstein, with calls for the royal household to take measures against him.

That now appears to have caused the royal deciding to voluntarily return his honors and to surrender membership of the prestigious order.

In his statement he said he continued to "firmly dispute the allegations against me".

"In discussion with the King, and my direct and wider family, we have concluded the ongoing accusations about me divert from the duties of the monarch and the royal household," said a statement from him.

"I have opted, as I always have, to put my responsibility to my family and land first.

"I support my resolution five years ago to step back from royal engagements.

"With the King's agreement, we feel I must now go a additional measure. I will therefore no longer employ my title or the distinctions which have been bestowed on me. As I have said earlier, I firmly deny the accusations against me."

The royal has been involved in a range of scandals, among them a legal case he ended with Virginia Giuffre, questions about his economic affairs and his association with an accused intelligence operative.

He will remain a royal - but will cease to be the the Duke, a title received from his the late Queen, the Queen Elizabeth II.

The prince had already ended to be a "working royal" and had lost the use of his His Royal Highness designation and no longer participated at official royal events. His status now will be even more lessened.

His ex-wife will be known as Ferguson and no longer Duchess of York, but their daughters will continue to have the honor of royal princess.

He has faced strong examination over his connections with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, more lately featuring inquiries about when he had truly ended contact.

In his BBC Newsnight interview, he had said that he had ended all ties with Epstein after they had been photographed together in NYC in late 2010.

But messages sent in February 2011 later came to light suggesting that he had in private continued in communication with the financier, such as swapping a communication: "Keep in close touch and we'll meet again soon!"

There had been increasing displeasure in the royal household at the controversies that continued to plague the royal.

Soon a posthumous memoir by the accuser will be published which is anticipated to bring additional scrutiny on the royal's association with Virginia Giuffre and Jeffrey Epstein.