Members of Parliament have moved to table a motion seeking to strip Prince Andrew of his dukedom, a rare procedural step in the Commons, as scrutiny intensifies over the prince’s residence at the 30-room Royal Lodge in Windsor, where reports indicate he has not paid rent for more than 20 years.

UK Business Secretary Peter Kyle described the matter as “a matter for the palace,” noting that whether Andrew may continue living there remains the prerogative of the royal household, particularly in light of renewed allegations regarding his relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The Times reported that a lease released under freedom of information rules shows Andrew paid £1 million for the lease and at least £7.5 million on refurbishments but has since paid only “one peppercorn (if demanded)” in annual rent since 2003. The lease allows him to remain at the property until 2078 and suggests the Crown Estate would owe him roughly £558,000 if he relinquished the lease.

Pressure on the prince has intensified following claims in the posthumous memoir of Epstein survivor Virginia Giuffre, who alleges she was raped by Andrew on three occasions. Giuffre also claimed that the prince’s team sought to “hire internet trolls” to “hassle” her online.

Amy Wallace, Giuffre’s ghostwriter, described any relinquishment of titles by Andrew as a “symbolic gesture” and “a victory that he was forced, by whatever means, to voluntarily give them [the titles] up.” She told BBC’s Newsnight, “Virginia wanted all the men who she had been trafficked to, against her will, to be held to account, and this is just one of the men.”

Formal removal of royal titles requires an act of parliament, which the government has indicated it will not initiate unless requested by the palace. On Tuesday, the SNP submitted an early-day motion (EDM) calling for Andrew’s title as Duke of York to be formally revoked, a title he has said he will no longer use. EDMs are among the few parliamentary mechanisms available to raise issues concerning royals, though they carry limited legislative weight.

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Wider context

Stephen Flynn, the SNP’s Westminster leader, said, “If the Westminster parties remain stubbornly slow in removing Prince Andrew’s titles, the SNP will do all we can to force them to act. Prince Andrew’s titles can only be removed by an act of Parliament. Therefore, this SNP motion is a way to pile pressure on the UK Labour government to bring forward that legislation immediately. The only real question is what Keir Starmer’s government is waiting for. The public knows this is the right thing to do, and even more importantly, the victims at the heart of the Epstein scandal know that it’s the right thing to do. It needs to be done without any further excuses and any further delay.”

EDMs rarely affect direct legislative change but can generate publicity and, if signed by a significant number of MPs across parties, serve as a tool to pressure the government.

Labour MP Rachael Maskell of York Central has previously advocated for a bill granting the king or a parliamentary committee the authority to remove Andrew’s titles. She stated, “Every time this comes up, it clearly must be really traumatising for the victims and survivors, so it’s really important that this matter is dealt with once and for all. There are mechanisms that need to be put in place in order to remove a title.”

Maskell initially proposed the Removal of Titles Bill in 2022, modeled on legislation from 1917 that stripped titles from peers and princes who sided against Britain during the First World War.

Renewed controversy over Epstein ties

The move came as newly released US court documents revealed that Andrew took at least four flights on Epstein’s private jet between 1999 and 2006, accompanied on some trips by Ghislaine Maxwell and other associates. The revelations also contradicted his 2019 BBC Newsnight interview, where he claimed to have cut ties with Epstein in 2010.

Emails later obtained by British media show Andrew remained in contact with Epstein even after photographs of the pair together in New York surfaced. In one message, he wrote, “It would seem we are in this together and will have to rise above it.”

Epstein died in 2019 in a Manhattan jail cell while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges; his death was ruled a suicide, though the results remain contested by many.

Prince Andrew had already been stripped of his military roles and banned from using the HRH (His Royal Highness) title in 2022. With this latest move, he effectively withdraws from public life, his titles dormant, his reputation in permanent decline.