The Bill is unlikely to become law without Government support, and ministers appear to be taking their lead from Buckingham Palace. But pressure is mounting amid swirling allegations
A law to allow the King to formally strip Prince Andrew of his dukedom is being introduced to Parliament today.
York Central MP Rachael Maskell proposes a bill to grant the monarch the power to formally remove titles.
It comes after the Prince said he would stop using his Duke of York title, his knighthood and his role as a Royal Knight Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter amid escalating controversy over his ties to Jeffrey Epstein.
But the royal, who has consistently denied any wrongdoing, retains his dukedom, which can only be removed by an act of Parliament. Ms Maskell, who sits as an independent MP, said: “It is time for Parliament to act so that it can, or the monarch can, remove titles.
“The Duke of York title may no longer be being used by its holder, but it has not been removed. My short Bill, The Removal of Titles Bill, will fix this; I hope it can now be supported by Parliament.”
The Bill is unlikely to become law without Government support, and ministers appear to be taking their lead from Buckingham Palace. But pressure is mounting on the Government to overhaul the law amid swirling allegations.
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Once the Bill is published, Ms Maskell said she will send copies of it to Buckingham Palace and to Keir Starmer to build support.
“My hope is that there will be discussions between the palace and Parliament to determine the necessity of this and how it can be achieved,” she said.
The proposed legislation would also include peerages, which would mean it could cover rogue members of the House of Lords. Baroness Michelle Mone and Lord Mandelson have been subject to calls for them to lose their peerages in recent times.
“It’s not targeted at this event, obviously it’s triggered by this event, but it would sit on the statute to be used for any such future occasion,” she said.
“There could be reasons why Parliament could wish to trigger such measures and it does include a whole range of titles, so we’ve researched into this, it will include peerages it will include, obviously, baronets and earls and dukes and all of that and then it will be for princes and princesses as well. So all titles which are given, it will be able to remove.”
Prince Andrew will no longer use include his wedding day titles – Duke of York, the Earl of Inverness and Baron Killyleagh, his knighthood as a Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order (GCVO) and his Garter role as a Royal Knight Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter.
The existing law, the Titles Deprivation Act from 1917, was designed to strip peerages and royal titles from those who served with the enemy in the First World War. It is unlikely to be relevant today.
It comes as four out of five Brits want Prince Andrew to be formally stripped of his dukedom, a YouGov poll has suggested.
The survey showed that 63% of nearly 6,700 adults questioned were “strongly” in favour of formal removal of the dukedom and 17% “somewhat” supporting the idea, while 6% were opposed to it – 4% somewhat and 2% strongly – and 14% did not know.
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