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Following weeks of mounting pressure on Buckingham Palace to remove Prince Andrew's titles and evict him from his Windsor home, the King initiated formal proceedings to do precisely that on Thursday. Buckingham Palace also announced on Thursday evening that official notice has been served by Andrew to relinquish the lease on his Windsor property. Andrew's connections to paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein have remained a source of scandal, especially following the posthumous release of his primary accuser Virginia Giuffre's memoir. It is believed that while Andrew refutes the allegations, Buckingham Palace regards there to have been "serious lapses of judgment". There has also allegedly been worry about the health and welfare of other family members. The Prince's titles of Prince, Duke of York, Earl of Inverness, Baron Killyleagh and the style His Royal Highness are impacted. The honours of Order of the Garter and Knight Grand Cross of the Victorian Order will also be stripped. He will be recognised as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor straight away. Queen Victoria's eldest son, King Edward VII was part of the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, the family name of his German father Prince Albert, but in 1917 King George V chose to adopt Windsor as the family's surname due to anti-German feeling during the First World War. The Windsor surname was officially confirmed by Queen Elizabeth II when she ascended to the throne in 1952. However, eight years later, the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh decided they wanted their direct descendants to have a different surname to distinguish them from the rest of the Royal family . So, it was declared in the Privy Council that Queen Elizabeth II's descendants, excluding those with the style of Royal highness and the title of prince or princess, or female descendants who marry, would bear the name Mountbatten-Windsor. Mountbatten was Prince Philip's surname, an Anglicised version of his mother's family name, Battenberg. It is understood that Charles made the decision, with the backing of the wider family, including his eldest son, the Prince of Wales. Andrew has not objected. On October 17, Andrew agreed to stop using his remaining titles and honours, but this is the formal removal process, ensuring his former Duke of York title cannot be used officially. It is understood Buckingham Palace needed time, and the legal and constitutional expertise, to enact the formal removal of Andrew's titles. The government was consulted and Royal warrants will be sent to the Lord Chancellor, David Lammy, to finalise the removal of his peerage, the Dukedom of York. Dukedoms can be abolished through Parliament, but it is understood that Buckingham Palace hoped to remove the peerage without taking up parliamentary time. It is understood that Andrew will move to a property on the Sandringham estate, which will be funded privately by the King, "as soon as practicable". His ex-wife Sarah Ferguson will also move out of the Royal Lodge and will sort her own living arrangements. As daughters of the son of a sovereign, Andrew's children will retain their titles of Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie .
