Andrew, 61, Duke of York, the second son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, was asked by his brother Charles to voluntarily resign from the royal family in 2019 after being outraged by the BBC after speaking publicly about his friendship with Epstein, who was convicted of sexual assault.
At that time, Andrew added the word "temporary" to his resignation, trying to wait for the situation to subside and regain his royal office.
But after that, Virginia Roberts Joffre, an American woman, filed a civil lawsuit against Andrew, accusing him of assaulting her three times when he was 17, which Andrew strenuously denied, claiming that he did not know Joffre at all and could not remember seeing her.
This week, U.S. Judge Lewis A Kaplan ruled on the lawsuit, which was won by Ms. Joffre, meaning that the lawsuit would rise to trial, and Queen Elizabeth II immediately decided to strip Andrew of all titles, ranks and royal patronships.
Buckingham Palace issued a statement on behalf of the Queen, saying: "Andrew, Duke of York, will no longer be addressed as His Highness and will no longer assume any public duties, and in the future he will defend this case in his personal citizenship capacity." "It's like telling everyone that whatever Andrew does and what results he does in the future has nothing to do with the royal family."
This decision of the Queen is not difficult to understand, because as long as Andrew loses power again in the future defense, what awaits him will be a "real" crime, and the British Royal Family will not allow the existence of a sinner, which will cause fatal damage to the overall image of the monarchy, in this case, even if the Queen loves Andrew, she can only "kill the relatives in righteousness".
Although it sounds very "realistic", this is already the maximum tolerance that the queen can strive for For Andrew, because as early as the first half of last year, Prince Charles, as the future king, advocated a complete separation from Andrew and let him deal with his own "mess", and Prince William, who is also a direct heir, also rarely supports his father's proposition, and for those who damage the image of the royal family, Prince William firmly believes that they should be removed from the royal family.
Interestingly, royal expert Russell Miles predicted how things would unfold long before the Queen announced the decision, saying bluntly in an interview with Zoe Forsey's Royal podcast "Pod Save The Queen": "Andrew's reputation is irreparable, but I learned through people close to him that he still believes he has a chance to get everything back, which is ridiculous, and I think he should be the only one who still thinks he has a chance to regain the crown office." ”
In addition to this, Mr Miles also hinted at the time that the Queen would distance herself from Andrew this year, as this year the Royal Family will hold a ceremony to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Queen's succession, when she will become the longest-reigning monarch in British history, and in order to prevent this significant moment from being affected, the Queen will not let Andrew appear anywhere related to the celebration.
But now the Queen's decision-making is obviously safer, and Andrew, who has been reduced to a commoner, is not eligible to participate in the Queen's celebration with other royals, and of course he may not have time to do so, after all, the most important thing for him now is how to avoid the prison disaster in the future.