<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>It was one scandal too many.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>After emails emerged this week showing that Prince Andrew remained in contact with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein longer than he previously admitted, the House of Windsor finally moved to insulate the monarchy from years of tawdry headlines about Andrew's dodgy friends and suspicious business deals.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Buckingham Palace released a statement from Andrew on Friday saying that he had </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/prince-andrew-gives-up-duke-of-york-title/81be27be-2411-4712-8cd5-270ebd64d8d4" rel="" target="" title="agreed to give up use of his last remaining royal titles"><span>agreed to give up use of his last remaining royal titles</span></a><span> so that continued allegations about him “don’t distract from the work of His Majesty.”</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/anthony-albanese-donald-trump-meeting-preview/da4559f7-d7f1-47ff-9a32-3d2ac52924f0" target="_blank" title="The wretched fate Anthony Albanese is hoping to dodge in two days"><strong><span>The wretched fate Anthony Albanese is hoping to dodge in two days</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>This week’s revelations demonstrated that Andrew had committed the unforgivable sin of misleading the British public, said Craig Prescott, an expert on the monarchy and constitutional law at Royal Holloway University of London.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>“To say something which is proven not to be true, I think, is the straw that broke the camel’s back,’’ he said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><h3><strong><span>Insulating the monarchy at a delicate time</span></strong></h3></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/world/one-scandal-too-many-forces-uk-monarchy-to-sideline-prince-andrew-after-years-of-tabloid-fodder/84d652c0-487e-433c-b4a9-d7fe1a1d79b6" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>While the cumulative weight of Andrew’s scandals demanded a response from the royal family, this week’s revelations came at a particularly sensitive moment for the king as he prepares for a state visit to the Vatican, where he is expected to pray beside Pope Leo XIV.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The visit is very important to Charles, who has made the bridging of faiths an important part of his “mantra,” said George Gross, an expert on theology and the monarchy at King’s College, London.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>“I think this was the speediest, really the quickest way of lowering his status even more without having to go to Parliament,” Gross said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>“Even if Parliament would have approved, it takes time.’’</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Charles may also have been motivated by a desire to protect the work of Queen Camilla, who has made combating domestic violence one of her signature issues, and the Duchess of Edinburgh, who has sought to combat sexual violence in war zones such as Congo.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The king will hope that this move finally draws a line between Andrew and the rest of the royal family, Prescott said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>“If there are allegations, or further stuff comes out, it will all be on Prince Andrew,” he said. “They’ve severed the connection between Prince Andrew and the monarchy as an institution.”</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><h2><strong><span>Signs of a new direction</span></strong></h2></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The move comes as Charles, who is 76 and undergoing treatment for an undisclosed form of cancer, works to ensure the long-term stability of the monarchy under his son and heir Prince William.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>William recently gave an interview in which he set out his vision for the monarchy, saying that the institution needed to change to make sure that it is a force for good.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>“In some ways, Prince Andrew has been the exact opposite of that,” Prescott said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>“And there is no space for that in the modern monarchy.”</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Andrew, 65, is the second son of the late Queen Elizabeth II.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>He spent more than 20 years as an officer in the Royal Navy before leaving to take up his royal duties in 2001.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Following Friday’s announcement, Andrew will no longer use his remaining royal titles, including the Duke of York, though he technically retains them.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Formally stripping him of those titles would be a time-consuming process requiring an act of Parliament.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/queensland-south-east-logan-fears-multiple-takeaway-orders-contaminated-after-cluster-of-people-sick-with-rat-poisoning/6e97b752-a4a8-4bb9-8839-208956841063" target="_blank" title="Fears multiple takeaway orders contaminated with rat poison"><strong><span>Fears multiple takeaway orders contaminated with rat poison</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><h3><strong><span>A long time coming</span></strong></h3></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Andrew’s banishment completes a process that began in November 2019, when he gave up all of his public duties and charity roles.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>That was triggered by a disastrous interview Andrew gave to the BBC as he sought to counter media reports about his friendship with Epstein and deny allegations that he had sex with a 17-year-old girl, Virginia Giuffre, who was trafficked by Epstein in 2001.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The prince was widely criticised for failing to show empathy for Epstein’s victims and for offering unbelievable explanations for his friendship with the disgraced financier.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The interview also sowed the seeds of this week’s upheaval, when Andrew told the BBC that he had cut off contact with Epstein in December 2010.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>British newspapers on Sunday revealed that Andrew wrote an email to Epstein on February 28, 2011.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Andrew wrote the note after renewed reporting on the Epstein scandal, telling him they were “in this together” and would “have to rise above it.”</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Andrew has recently faced another round of grimy stories as newspapers release excerpts of Giuffre’s posthumous memoir, which will be published on Tuesday.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Giuffre died by suicide in April at the age of 41.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Andrew in 2022 reached an out-of-court settlement with Giuffre after she filed a civil suit against him in New York.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>While he didn’t admit wrongdoing, Andrew did acknowledge Giuffre’s suffering as a victim of sex trafficking.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>While Andrew said he continues to “vigorously deny” the accusations, Giuffre's family saw the surrender of the use of his titles as validation for her memoir's claims that the prince acted like sex was his birthright.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>“We’ve shed a lot of happy and sad tears today," her brother, Sky Roberts, told the BBC.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"In a lot of ways this vindicates Virginia.”</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/barnaby-joyce-to-leave-the-nationals-amid-speculation-of-defection-to-one-nation/cef8e827-1f60-4024-8335-3326e0a0aa8b" target="_blank" title=""><strong><span>'I'll open the doors for you': Pauline Hanson invites Barnaby Joyce to join One Nation</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><h3><span>Front-page fodder for wrong reasons</span></h3></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The prince has been the subject of tabloid stories stretching back to at least 2007, when he sold his house near Windsor Castle for 20 per cent over the 15 million pound ($31.1 million) asking price.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The buyer was reported to be Timur Kulibayev, son-in-law of Nursultan Nazarbayev, then-president of Kazakhstan, raising concerns that the deal was an attempt to buy influence in Britain.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Last year, a court case revealed Andrew’s relationship with a businessman and suspected Chinese spy who was barred from the United Kingdom as a threat to national security. Authorities were concerned that the man could have misused his influence over Andrew, according to court documents.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>While the palace said Andrew had decided to give up his royal titles, royal historian Sally Bedell Smith said the king, Prince William and the entire family exerted enormous pressure on him.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>“I think he was absolutely forced into this,″ said Smith, author of </span><em><span>Prince Charles: The Passions and Paradoxes of an Improbable Life.</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>“He’s had many opportunities to fall on his sword, and he hasn’t. So I think he was given a pretty stark choice: Either do this voluntarily or we’re going to have to do this the hard way.″</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/how-to-follow-9news-digital/29855bb1-ad3d-4c38-bc25-3cb52af1216f" target="_blank"><strong><em><span>DOWNLOAD THE 9NEWS APP</span></em></strong></a><strong><em><span>: Stay across all the latest in breaking news, sport, politics and the weather via our news app and get notifications sent straight to your smartphone. 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