My period of history is the Medieval period, but something happened a few months ago that was truly history making. A member of the royal family had their ‘royalness’ stripped from them. King Charles took away Prince Andrew’s royal titles and styles because of his association with Jeffrey Epstein, which was bringing the royal family into disrepute. He is now known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor.
The Google AI summarised it as ‘seismic’:
The words “unprecedented” and “historical” were rightly used when the news broke, as never in modern history has a working royal been stripped of their honors for a reason such as this.
Andrew was also removed from his official military and charity roles. This move signifies a total, public separation from the working royal family, largely to protect the monarchy’s reputation.
Diana, Princess of Wales, and Sarah, Duchess of York, lost their “HRH” status upon divorce, and Harry and Megan lost their titles when they stepped back from the royal family, but that was nothing like what happened to Andrew.
Process: The King used his royal prerogative, including Letters Patent and Royal Warrants, to formally remove the titles of “Prince” and the style of “His Royal Highness”.
Titles Removed: Duke of York, Earl of Inverness, Baron Killyleagh, and all associated military and knighthood titles (e.g., Knight of the Garter).
Result: Andrew ceased to use the “HRH” title and no longer performs public duties.
Context: While Andrew initially agreed to step back and stop using titles in October 2025, the formal, permanent removal was finalized in November 2025.
The last time this happened was through the
Title Deprivation Act 1917. This was brought forward during the First World War to remove titles from members of the British peerage who had sided with Germany or, as the Act put it, “during the present war, borne arms against His Majesty or His Allies, or who have adhered to His Majesty’s enemies.”
It’s astounding to think that Andrew’s behaviour is counted on the same level.
Ann Marie Thomas is the author of five medieval history books, a surprisingly cheerful poetry collection about her 2010 stroke and two further poetry collections, and the science fiction series Flight of the Kestrel, of which there are four books are out now. Follow her at http://eepurl.com/bbOsyz and get free books.
