A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
The U.K.'s Prince Andrew will soon no longer be a prince. King Charles is stripping his younger brother of all his titles and kicking him out of a royal mansion. And that's because of Andrew's history with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, which has been under scrutiny for years now. Andrew has denied all the accusations against him. Let's go to NPR's Fatima Al-Kassab, who's been following this story, joins us from London. This relationship between Epstein and Prince Andrew, it's kind of old news. So why this action from the king now?
FATIMA AL-KASSAB, BYLINE: Yeah, this does go back years, A. But this year, emails were published in British newspapers that appeared to show that Andrew had stayed in touch with Epstein much later than the time he had previously told British media that he had cut all ties with the sex offender. And then this month, we got the posthumous memoir of Epstein's best-known accuser, Virginia Giuffre. And in that, she said she'd had sex with Andrew three times as a teenager.
Andrew has denied accusations that he sexually abused Giuffre, but he did settle a lawsuit with her back in 2022. Giuffre died by suicide earlier this year. And a couple of weeks ago, Andrew announced that he was going to give up some of his titles, including the duke of York. But more incriminating revelations kept coming up. There were photos of Epstein and his former long-term partner and convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell at Andrew's royal mansion in Windsor. They were published this week. And then pressure kept mounting. And earlier this week, King Charles was actually heckled about this. And that's very rare for the king.
MARTÍNEZ: So what's been the reaction to this move?
AL-KASSAB: Well, here's what it sounded like last night on this really popular BBC program. The host interrupted the show with the news.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED TV HOST: I'm stopping the recording 'cause we have a breaking story which we should respond to. Prince Andrew will no longer be Prince Andrew.
(APPLAUSE)
AL-KASSAB: And you can hear the audience there. That's members of the public in the audience erupting into applause. And that really shows the strength of feeling among the British public here. They clearly wanted the king to go further. And we've also had reaction from the family of his accuser, Giuffre. Her brother, Sky Roberts, said last night that today, an ordinary American girl from an ordinary American family brought down a British prince. And they say she won a victory for accountability. We've not heard yet from Andrew himself.
MARTÍNEZ: All right, so he's no longer a prince. So what does that mean exactly?
AL-KASSAB: So this is unprecedented. It's a new low. And it's a real fall from grace for the king's younger brother. It's decisive and dramatic action that we've seen from the king, further than what the late Queen Elizabeth did. And for years, we were told Andrew couldn't really stop being a prince because he is the late queen's son, after all. But that has now happened. So he will now be known only as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor. And he's also been kicked out of the 30-room mansion on the Windsor estate that he'd been living in virtually rent-free for more than 20 years. The statement from Buckingham Palace says he'll now move onto an estate that's privately owned by the king. So in other words, not paid for by British taxpayers.
MARTÍNEZ: So now that this is done and over with, will the royal family be able to move on from this?
AL-KASSAB: Yeah, they're hoping that this draws a line under the scandal that's been really damaging for the royal family's reputation. And it's distracted from the work that the king wants people to be focused on. The statement from the palace last night said that censures against Andrew were deemed necessary, notwithstanding the fact that he continues to deny the allegations against him. But that's not necessarily the end of it.
There's still a police investigation here in the U.K. into whether or not Andrew tried to get personal information about Giuffre through his police protection. And as you know, Epstein is a big deal in the U.S., too. Congress is still looking into the Epstein files, and one person they would love to hear from is the former prince. They've called for Andrew to give evidence and share everything he knows. What we do know is that by doing this, the royal family is distancing themselves from him and making this his problem.
MARTÍNEZ: That's NPR's Fatima Al-Kassab in London. Thank you very much.
AL-KASSAB: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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