Prince Andrew is facing months of pressure to relinquish his Duke of York title after an MP vowed to pursue “a number of paths” in parliament, including amending legislation, to strip the royal of his last major honorary position.
Rachael Maskell, the Labour MP for York Central, said she had met Commons officials to explore ways of forcing Prince Andrew to give up his Duke of York title after his out-of-court settlement with a woman who accused him of sexually assaulting her when she was 17.
Maskell said she hoped Andrew would voluntarily let go of his association with the city – a lifelong title bestowed by the Queen in 1986 – but that she would pursue it in parliament, including by amending legislation, in the coming weeks.
She said: “Trying to find the right piece of legislation is important but we clearly have got things coming back to the Commons in the next few weeks [so] there may be some manoeuvres which can be put in place.”
Councillors in Northern Ireland are also set to hold a debate later this year on the renaming of Prince Andrew Way – a street in Carrickfergus, which is in the Mid and East Antrim Council area.
Such a move risks extending the controversy deeper into the Queen’s platinum jubilee year – due to be celebrated with a four-day bank holiday weekend in June – as any new law would have to be passed by MPs and peers and then given royal assent by the monarch.
The surprise out-of-court settlement, announced on Tuesday, means Prince Andrew makes no admission of guilt over the claims made by Virginia Giuffre, which he had repeatedly denied and only weeks ago vowed to fight in a US civil trial.
However, the end of the civil claim failed to calm the unease in York about its link to the embattled prince.
Darryl Smalley, a Liberal Democrat councillor and the city council’s executive member for culture, leisure and communities, said the sexual assault allegations were a “stain on the city’s reputation” and that it would step up pressure on MPs and the royal household for Andrew to relinquish the Duke of York title.
Smalley said: “We really need the royal household and parliament to recognise that this is serious. We’re a world-renowned city with fantastic universities, environment and culture, but York’s image across the world is definitely being tarnished by this.”
The Queen last month stripped Andrew of his military affiliations and royal patronages in an attempt to distance the royal family from the allegations. However, he has kept his Duke of York title.
The Queen alone cannot remove titles of peerage. Any attempt to remove the title would have to be led by parliament, through a statute passed by both the House of Commons and the Lords.
Maskell, who raised concerns about the Duke of York’s title in the Commons last month, said on Wednesday that her mailbox was “absolutely rammed” with people demanding that Andrew be stripped of the title.
She said another route could be an online petition in which MPs could debate a motion put forward by York residents calling for the Duke of York to be stripped of his title. A parliamentary e-petition will be considered for debate by MPs if it gets more than 100,000 signatures, and a response from government if it tops 10,000.
Maskell said: “The next step is very much having a parliamentary petition to gauge broad public opinion and also to look at the legislation. I’ve already spoken to the clerks about what those options are. Of course, as a backbencher we all know it’s difficult to bring forward legislation, so I will be looking for opportunities in other legislation that government brings forward to see if it could be amended to address this.”
Prince Andrew also retains the service rank of vice-admiral of the Royal Navy, as a former member of the armed forces. The duke was due to be promoted to admiral on his 60th birthday in 2020, but asked to defer this after stepping back from public duties in 2019.
Tom Sharpe, a former frigate commander and Ministry of Defence official, said the prince should be allowed to retain his naval rank but that he should not be promoted to admiral. He added: “Whether or not he choses to wear his uniform for state occasions is a different matter and one for his own personal judgment. However, I would imagine that many would consider it inappropriate.”
