By Molly Claire Goddard
2:24pm PST, Feb 3, 2026
_
According to
Michael Rhodes — a leading authority on the peerage [the system of hereditary titles] and editor of the online
Peerage News — Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor being stripped of his honors due to his friendship with
Jeffrey Epstein was reportedly a facade. "It's quite clear that Andrew's removal from the roll [of the peerage] was done to deceive and bamboozle the public into thinking that
King Charles III's brother [Andrew] is no longer Baron Killyleagh, Earl of Inverness or Duke of York, when in fact he is and will be until his death — or until an Act of Parliament is brought before parliament," he told
Daily Mail. "The removal of a peerage cannot be achieved by royal authority alone."
_
Due to this loophole, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor can reportedly still call himself by his title, have his personal stationery embossed with it and retain his coat of arms. However, according to Michael Rhodes, the coat of arms made for Andrew on his elevation to the peerage when he wed Sarah Ferguson in 1986 would have to be changed to reflect the loss of his royal princedom and his Garter knighthood.
_
King Charles III and The Firm announced last year that Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor would no longer be known as the Duke of York. "His Majesty has today initiated a formal process to remove the Style, Titles and Honours of Prince Andrew," a
statement from Buckingham Palace announced. "Prince Andrew will now be known as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor."
_
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor's ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, also had her honors removed due to her own connection with Jeffrey Epstein. "As the divorced wife of a peer, she's entitled to keep using the title she adopted at the time — Sarah, Duchess of York," royal writer
Christopher Wilson wrote for
Daily Mail.
_
In the aftermath of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor's banishment from The Firm, he was also forced to move out of Royal Lodge and into the much smaller Marsh Farm. "Andrew has absolutely no intention of settling quietly into Sandringham," a source told
Closer. "He sees it as humiliating and beneath him. He says if [King] Charles III and
[Prince] William think they can park him in some falling-down dump and pretend he no longer exists, they have another thing coming."
