The Prince Andrew Scandal

Britain's King Charles III has stripped the office of his younger brother Prince Andrew at Buckingham Palace after a sex scandal in the United States forced him out of official duties. This was reported by The Sun newspaper.

"Any presence of Prince Andrew at the palace is officially over. The King has made this clear. He is not acting as a member of the royal family. He is on his own," the tabloid quoted an unnamed source as saying.

According to the article, until recently, despite stepping aside from all official business, Andrew continued to have an office at the official residence of the British monarchs. Now all staff are facing dismissal.

As noted by The Sun newspaper, the 62-year-old disgraced Prince of York will continue to live at Windsor Castle near London. Since 2003, he has been granted the right to reside in the Royal Lodge estate for 75 years. In addition to the 31-bedroom house of the same name, it includes 40 hectares of land on which there are several residential buildings.

Prince Andrew was forced to withdraw from official duties in late 2019, when American woman Virginia Giuffre publicly alleged, not for the first time, that the Queen's son was among several men with whom she was forced to have sex at the age of 17 by American financier Jeffrey Epstein. Jufre subsequently sued the Duke of York, claiming physical and mental damages.

After an unsuccessful attempt to have the claim dismissed, the prince, who has consistently denied guilt, chose to settle the dispute with Virginia Giuffre out of court. The amount of compensation the woman received has not been officially announced, but according to British media reports it was £12m.