A senior backbench MP has called for parliament to beef up the King’s powers so that he can permanently strip Prince Andrew of his titles.
Rachael Maskell, the MP for York Central, said the disgraced royal has an association with the city, “clearly a human rights city, one that has high values and standards”.
And she cited a poll which found the vast majority of residents want him to have his Duke of York title formally removed. He has been forced to voluntarily give up his titles, but the only way Andrew can be fully relieved of them is through an act of parliament.
And Ms Maskell said the monarch should be given the power to formally remove royal titles “not just for this incident, but for any future occurrence, indeed, any titles at all including peerages”.
She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I didn’t come into parliament to discuss princes and princesses.
“But a simple clause could be added to a constitutional bill or a private member’s bill, it would take very little time at all, but would give increased powers to the monarch to be able to have those duties into the future.
“We have seen the pain, heard the pain and are learning more from victims and survivors. I think as a result of that, it would be appropriate to have legislation in place for this occurrence.”
Andrew has handed back all the remaining honours he clung onto despite being stripped of his HRH title and public duties by his mother, the late queen.
It comes just days before the publication of a memoir by Andrew’s late alleged victim, Virginia Giuffre, to whom he paid millions to settle a civil sexual assault case, and after revelations he had held three meetings with a senior Chinese Communist Party official at the heart of the China spy case scandal.
Ms Maskell said “any associations with individuals as abhorrent as somebody like Epstein” could be addressed by her proposals. And left-wing Labour MP Nadia Whittome said: “It should be a given that the state removes Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s titles, rather than allowing him to hide behind voluntarily renouncing them and mealy-mouthed statements blaming his accusers.”
And SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn said Ms Giuffre’s life was “destroyed” by Epstein, telling The Telegraph: “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.”
But, asked whether ministers should intervene to ensure Andrew can be stripped of all his titles, Bridget Phillipson said it “isn’t a matter for the government”.
She told the Today programme: “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 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.”
How could parliament strip Andrew of his titles?
Parliamentary experts have said a process to strip Andrew of his titles could be done relatively quickly by a short piece of legislation.
A 2022 two-clause bill making the Princess Royal and Prince Edward counsellors of state gained royal assent in around 20 days altogether, with debates in the House of Lords and Commons lasting less than an hour each.
The precedent for stripping royals of their titles was set by the royal 1917 Titles Deprivation Act, which stripped royal titles from those who supported Germany in the First World War.
