King Charles ‘urgently considering stripping Prince Andrew of his membership in the Order of the Garter’
Amid the latest Jeffrey Epstein to hit the Duke, King Charles is reportedly urgently considering stripping Prince Andrew of his membership in the Order of the Garter.
King Charles is reportedly urgently considering stripping Prince Andrew of his membership in the Order of the Garter.
The alleged royal debate over whether to remove the title comes amid the latest controversy surrounding the Duke of York, 65, according to sources who spoke to the Daily Mail.
Senior discussions with Charles, 76, are understood to be taking place within Buckingham Palace after fresh revelations about Andrew’s alleged links to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, the outlets says.
Sources told the Mail that the king could make a formal announcement “within days”, though Charles would reportedly prefer his brother to relinquish the honour voluntarily rather than face removal, according to the Mail.
The Mail reported on Friday (17.10.25): “Top-level discussions are this afternoon under way at Buckingham Palace after the latest embarrassing scandals involving the Duke of York.”
The Order of the Garter, established in 1348 by King Edward III, is Britain’s most senior order of chivalry and regarded as one of the highest distinctions in the monarchy.
Andrew, who was appointed a Knight of the Garter in 2006, is said to have prized the title deeply, using the post-nominal initials “KG” in personal correspondence.
The Mail reported that the latest development follows the revelation of an email Andrew sent to Epstein in response to the newspaper’s earlier reporting about his alleged sexual encounter with Epstein sex trafficking victim Virginia Giuffre.
In the message, the Duke allegedly wrote: “We are in this together.”
Andrew has consistently denied meeting Giuffre and has claimed a widely circulated photograph showing him with his arm around her waist when she was 17 was “fake”.
According to Daily Mail sources, the king regards the incident as “the final straw” in a long-running effort to distance the Royal Family from Andrew’s scandals.
Removing the Duke from the Order of the Garter would mark a significant break with precedent.
The last known instance of expulsion was in 1941, when Emperor Hirohito of Japan was stripped of his honour after his country entered the Second World War.
While the king could remove the honour at his discretion, other sanctions, such as taking away Andrew’s Duke of York title, would require an Act of Parliament and are therefore seen as unlikely.
Andrew was forced to step down from his role as a UK trade envoy in 2011 after a series of controversies.
In January 2022, Queen Elizabeth II stripped him of his military titles, royal patronages and use of the “His Royal Highness” style following a US court ruling that he must face a civil sexual assault case filed by Virgina Giuffre.
The duke later reached an out-of-court settlement without any admission of liability.
Since becoming monarch, Charles has reportedly moved to restrict his brother’s financial privileges.
He removed Andrew’s private family allowance shortly after his accession to the throne, leaving him without taxpayer support. Despite that, Andrew continues to reside at Royal Lodge, a 30-room residence in Windsor, alongside his former wife, Sarah, Duchess of York, 65.
Until now, honours within the Order of the Garter have only been revoked for offences such as treason or heresy, making the king’s alleged deliberations unprecedented in modern royal history.
