Queen Strips Prince Andrew of Royal and Military Titles in Wake of Epstein Scandal

Buckingham Palace announced on Thursday that Prince Andrew has been stripped of his military titles, charities, and will no longer be referred to as “His Royal Highness.”

Queen Elizabeth effectively stripped her son of all of his titles following yesterday’s ruling that a sexual abuse civil lawsuit linked to Jeffery Epstein could proceed.

The suit filed on behalf of Virginia Giuffre claims that she was trafficked by convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and forced to perform sex acts with Prince Andrew. Andrew denies the claim.

“With The Queen’s approval and agreement, the Duke of York’s military affiliations and Royal patronages have been returned to The Queen. The Duke of York will continue not to undertake any public duties and is defending this case as a private citizen,” the palace said in a statement.

MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell noted, while breaking the news, that the Queen had previously defended her son – or at least had remained silent on the issue.

In a legal brief filed on Wednesday, Giuffre requested that the judge unseal the names of the John Does currently kept out of the public eye, in part due to their complaints of how disruptive the media attention would be to their lives.

“Upon review of the objections of those Does, it is apparent that their objections essentially mirror objections to unsealing that this Court has already rejected,” Giuffre’s lawyer wrote, as cited by the producer of the Prince and the Pervert podcast that is chronicling the events of this case.

Ghislaine Maxwell, who was found guilty on six charges related to the Epstein case, has reportedly given up fighting Giuffre’s request — a major step toward those names potentially being made public.