Prince Andrew stripped of titles, leaving Royal Lodge
If you woke up to push alerts about the monarchy tonight, here’s the short version we can teach from. Buckingham Palace says the King has begun a formal process to remove Andrew’s style, titles and honours. The statement adds he “will now be known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor”, and formal notice has been served to surrender his lease on Royal Lodge, with a move to alternative private accommodation to follow. The Palace also expressed sympathies for victims and survivors of abuse.
Let’s place this in time so you can reference it properly: the announcement was made on Thursday 30 October 2025. It says the lease at Royal Lodge had offered legal cover for him to remain there, but that cover has now ended; he is expected to relocate to a property on the Sandringham estate. Andrew, 65, continues to deny the allegations linked to Jeffrey Epstein.
This step goes further than mid‑October. On 17 October 2025, Andrew said he would stop using his titles and honours because accusations about him were a distraction from the Royal Family’s work; that earlier move was presented as his decision, agreed with the King. Today’s change is the King acting formally and publicly.
You’ll see three different words in headlines. For clarity: style refers to HRH; title covers designations such as Prince and Duke of York; honours include knighthoods like the Order of the Garter and the Royal Victorian Order. The Palace says titles and honours are being removed as part of the process.
What changes when someone loses HRH and “Prince”? In everyday use, media and public bodies stop styling the person that way. He becomes Andrew Mountbatten Windsor for official references, rather than Prince Andrew or HRH The Duke of York. The Palace’s statement is explicit on that naming.
Housing is part of the story many of you asked about. Royal Lodge sits on the Crown Estate under a 75‑year lease that long drew attention because the rent was nominal (“one peppercorn if demanded”) in return for significant upkeep costs. Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee has now written to the Crown Estate and the Treasury seeking detail on whether this represented value for money, while the Palace has served notice to surrender the lease.
The move itself matters for public spending literacy. The Crown Estate is not the King’s private property, but the Sandringham estate is. The Palace says any new accommodation for Andrew on Sandringham will be privately funded by the King, alongside private provision for the transition out of Royal Lodge.
What about his family? Sarah Ferguson will also leave Royal Lodge and, after Andrew ceased using the Duke of York title, she stopped using her own courtesy title, Duchess of York, in October. She is expected to make her own living arrangements.
And their daughters? Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie keep their titles. That’s because of rules set by King George V in 1917: the children of a sovereign and the children of the sons of a sovereign are princes and princesses. Their places in the line of succession are unchanged; Andrew remains eighth. Titles can change; succession is set by law.
A quick legal literacy note for your essays: the King can act under the Royal Prerogative on styles, titles and honours. Peerage questions involve formalities via the Lord Chancellor; as of 5 September 2025 the Lord Chancellor is David Lammy. Government has indicated support for the decision.
Why “Mountbatten Windsor”? That surname has a history you can teach in one paragraph. In 1917, during the First World War, George V changed the royal family name to Windsor. In 1960, Elizabeth II decided that her direct descendants who needed a surname would use Mountbatten‑Windsor, combining Windsor with Prince Philip’s family name-Mountbatten-an anglicised form of Battenberg.
Context for why this is happening now belongs in any classroom discussion. The outcry over Andrew’s association with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has intensified again this month around the posthumous publication of Virginia Giuffre’s memoir; her family has continued to speak publicly. Andrew has always denied wrongdoing and has not been charged with any crime.
Finally, a media‑literacy tip as you read coverage over the next few days. When a report says “stripped of titles”, check what changed in law and what changed in usage; when you see “evicted”, look for lease terms and who owns which estate; when you see “no longer a prince”, remember that succession is governed by statute across the realms, not by a press release. Cross‑refer Palace statements, Parliament sources and reputable outlets before you share.