The royal family also noted that the prince will be defending the allegation against him as a private citizen.
![Prince Andrew [Photo Credit; Sky News]](https://i0.wp.com/media.premiumtimesng.com/wp-content/files/2022/01/Sky-News.jpg?resize=1140%2C570&ssl=1)
The British royal family Thursday in a statement announced it has stripped Prince Andrew, The Duke of York, of his royal patronages as a result of the ongoing sexual abuse lawsuit against him.
‘’With the Queen’s approval and agreement, The Duke of York’s military affiliations and royal patronages have been returned to the queen,” the statement reads.
The royal family also noted that the prince will be defending the allegation against him as a private citizen.
‘’The Duke of York will continue not to undertake any public duties and is defending this case as a private citizen.’’
The 61-year-old Duke of York was forced to step down from public duties in 2019 because of his connections to convicted U.S. sex offender, Jeffrey Epstein, and after a disastrous interview on the BBC’s flagship current affairs programme, which he had hoped would clear his name.
Things took a turn for the worse when a U.S. judge struck out an appeal to dismiss a civil lawsuit against him in which Virginia Giuffre accused him of sexual abuse when she was 17.
According to Aljazeera, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan said Ms Giuffre, who is now 38, could pursue claims that Mr Andrew allegedly battered her and intentionally caused her emotional distress while Mr Epstein – a financier who killed himself in jail in August 2019 just before he was due to stand trial on sex trafficking charges – was trafficking her.
The prince has denied Ms Giuffre’s accusations that he forced her to have sex more than two decades ago at a London home of Mr Epstein’s former partner and associate Ghislaine Maxwell, and abused her at two Epstein properties.
Aljazeera also reported that the removal of Mr Andrew’s military roles came after more than 150 Royal Navy, Royal Air Force and British Army veterans wrote to the queen.
The 95-year-old head of state is the commander-in-chief of the army, navy and air force.
“Were this any other senior military officer it is inconceivable that he would still be in post,” the veterans wrote in a joint letter made public by the anti-monarchy pressure group Republic.
“Officers of the British armed forces must adhere to the very highest standards of probity, honesty and honourable conduct.
“These are standards which Prince Andrew has fallen well short of,” they wrote, adding that he had “brought the services he is associated with into disrepute.”
Back Story
Ms Giuffre filed the suit against the prince in August 2021, accusing him of rape and sexual assault of a minor, as well as inflicting psychological and emotional harm. She is seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.
According to a report by NPR, Ms Giuffre alleged that the abuse occurred sometime between 2000 and 2002 when Ms Giuffre was part of Mr Epstein’s inner circle and Mr Andrew was around 40 years old.
Ms Giuffre said Mr Andrew sexually abused her in three different places when she was a minor: at Mr Maxwell’s home in London, at Mr Epstein’s mansion in New York, and at Mr Epstein’s private island in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Her lawsuit includes the now-famous photo of the prince with his arm around Ms Giuffre’s waist — an image she said was taken shortly before he abused her.
