A leading royal expert has spoken about the “extreme pressure” Prince Andrew would have faced before publicly announcing he would no longer use his remaining royal titles. Buckingham Palace announced on Friday evening that the Prince would lose the right to use his Duke of York title, as well as key roles such as his position as a Knight of the Garter.
Appearing on Sky News shortly after the news broke, former BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond said: “It has become quite untenable for the situation to go on as it was. Day after day of headlines of distracting, as Andrew himself says in his statement, distracting from the work that the Royal Family are doing.”
While speaking further about what surprised her about the statement, Ms Bond made reference to the key members of the Royal Family who would have been pushing for the Prince to lose his remaining titles and roles.
Ms Bond said: “I’m struck by the use of the pronoun ‘we’. ‘The King, my family and my immediate family, we have concluded that the continued accusations against me distract from the work of His Majesty.’
“He uses ‘we’ again later. This is a clear indication that extreme pressure has been put on Prince Andrew to do, if you like, the ‘decent thing’ and fall on his sword.
“If he hadn’t fallen on this sword, he would have been pushed very firmly onto it.
“I think there have been some very pointed words between Charles and William, in the background, putting pressure on Andrew to do the ‘decent thing’.”
In a statement released by Buckingham Palace on Friday evening, Prince Andrew said: “In discussion with The King, and my immediate and wider family, we have concluded the continued accusations about me distract from the work of His Majesty and the Royal Family.
“I have decided, as I always have, to put my duty to my family and country first. I stand by my decision five years ago to stand back from public life.
“With His Majesty’s agreement, we feel I must now go a step further. I will therefore no longer use my title or the honours which have been conferred upon me. As I have said previously, I vigorously deny the accusations against me.”
The most prominent scandal for the 65-year-old, who stepped down from royal duties in 2019, is his association with convicted paedophile, Jeffrey Epstein.
Reports have also recently emerged that Andrew lied about when he cut contact with Epstein and further details of his dealings with an alleged Chinese spy have dominated newspaper headlines.