Copyright The Daily Beast
Brits didn’t hold back after the news of Prince Andrew getting stripped of his royal titles. The audience of BBC’s Question Time, a political debate program, erupted into applause after host Fiona Bruce broke the news of the stunning development on Thursday, following years of controversy surrounding his relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. “Prince Andrew will no longer be Prince Andrew,” Bruce went on, drawing applause from the audience before she could even finish talking. “He will be Andrew Mountbatten Windsor.” The audience applauded a second time after Bruce reported that the disgraced royal would surrender the lease to his home. Buckingham Palace announced in a bombshell statement that King Charles has initiated the formal process of stripping Andrew, 65, of his formal titles. The Palace also said Andrew had been ordered to surrender his lease to the Royal Lodge and move to the Sandringham Estate. “These censures are deemed necessary, notwithstanding the fact that he continues to deny the allegations against him,” the statement read. “Their Majesties wish to make clear that their thoughts and utmost sympathies have been, and will remain with, the victims and survivors of any and all forms of abuse.” Andrew has been hounded by controversy since he was accused of sexual assault by Virginia Giuffre, one of Epstein’s most outspoken victims, who took her own life in April. Her siblings hailed King Charles’ move as a “victory” for her: “Virginia Roberts Giuffre, our sister, a child when she was sexually assaulted by Andrew, never stopped fighting for accountability for what had happened to her and to countless other survivors like her.” U.K. Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy, who was a guest on Question Time on Thursday, welcomed the news.
