Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor has attended his first royal event since being stripped of his royal titles.
King Charles’ younger brother, formerly Prince Andrew, attended the christening of his granddaughter Athena at St James’s Palace in London. He was joined by his ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, who also lost her Duchess of York title.
The former Duke arrived in a Range Rover at a side entrance to the family event, according to The Telegraph. He and Ferguson left separately around noon.
Princess Beatrice and her property developer husband, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, welcomed Athena on January 22. Beatrice is also mom of daughter Sienna, 4, and stepson Christopher “Wolfie” Woolf, from Mozzi’s previous relationship.
Andrew and Ferguson, 66, are also parents of daughter Princess Eugenie, who shares sons August, 4, and Ernest, 2, with husband Jack Brooksbank.
King Charles, 77, officially stripped Andrew, 65, of his royal titles on Oct. 30 amid allegations that Andrew kept ties with the late convicted pedophile and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein years after Andrew claimed to have cut ties with him. He was initially forced to step back from royal duties in 2019.
On Oct. 21, Virginia Giuffre, who died by suicide at 41 in April, posthumously published a memoir which included fresh allegations that she was forced to have sex with Andrew when she was a teenager. Andrew has repeatedly denied the allegations.
After the latest bombshells, his coat of arms were also removed from St George’s Chapel, Windsor, the location where his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, is buried. (The late queen and Prince Philip also shared Prince Edward, 61, and Princess Anne, 75.)
The official order from the palace read, “THE KING has directed that the appointment of Andrew Albert Christian Edward MOUNTBATTEN-WINDSOR to be a Knight Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, dated 23 April 2006, shall be cancelled and annulled and that his name shall be erased from the Register of the said Order.”
The statement added, “THE KING has directed that the appointment of Andrew Albert Christian Edward MOUNTBATTEN-WINDSOR to be a Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order, dated 19 February 2011, shall be cancelled and annulled and that his name shall be erased from the Register of the said Order.”
Buckingham Palace also released a statement announcing the stunning news.
“His Majesty has today initiated a formal process to remove the Style, Titles and Honours of Prince Andrew. Prince Andrew will now be known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor. His lease on Royal Lodge has, to date, provided him with legal protection to continue in residence,” the statement read. “These censures are deemed necessary, notwithstanding the fact that he continues to deny the allegations against him.”
Ferguson, for her part, was dropped as the patron of seven charities after an old email she sent to Epstein surfaced where she described him as a “supreme friend.” Both she and Andrew also were forced to vacate their Royal Lodge residence.
