Fallout from the Prince Andrew sex scandal has once again plunged the British ruling elite into a severe crisis.
To protect their own standing, the royal family has effectively disassociated themselves from him. Buckingham Palace announced yesterday the initiation of “a formal process to remove the Style, Titles and Honours of Prince Andrew,” reducing him simply to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor. The gravity of the situation is underscored by the statement, “These censures are deemed necessary.”
Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, formerly Prince Andrew, Duke of York, and his daughter Eugenie riding in the carriage procession at Trooping the Colour, June 16, 2012 [Photo by Carfax2 / CC BY-SA 3.0]
He has received “formal notice” to relinquish the lease on the Royal Lodge, a residence leased almost rent-free. Reports indicate he is being relocated to a private property within King Charles III’s Sandringham estate in Norfolk.
According to sources cited by the Daily Mail, this decision originated solely from King Charles, independent of any pressure from the heir apparent. Yet, skepticism remains, especially considering the mounting concern from Prince William and Catherine about the monarchy’s reputation and future.
The urgency to limit the fallout permeates every segment of the ruling class. When Andrew announced his intention to stop using his titles, a Downing Street representative stated, “We support the judgement made by the royal family.” Meanwhile, Energy Secretary Ed Miliband remarked, “I think the royal family have said that they didn’t want to take up parliamentary time with this. There are lots of other things that Parliament is discussing.”
Despite this, the Starmer administration and others cling to hopeful illusions.
The royal household seeks to distance itself from a scandal centered on sex abuse, but the controversy is far from containable. Andrew’s frivolous lifestyle led him to associate with billionaire sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, whose exploitation network implicated figures ranging from Donald Trump in the United States to British royalty.
Nonetheless, Andrew is merely one of the most blatantly corrupt members within the parasitic royal family.
Historically, the monarchy has been framed as a cornerstone of capitalist society. The execution of Charles I in 1649 marked the rise of bourgeois governance over feudalism. The 1660 Restoration established a constitutional monarchy balancing the old aristocracy with the emerging bourgeoisie, further cemented by the 1688 “Glorious Revolution” and the following year’s Bill of Rights.
Throughout the centuries, the monarchy functioned effectively for the bourgeois state, offering a supposedly apolitical and unifying figurehead cloaked in “history” and “tradition” during the violent expansion of the British Empire. Later, it acted as a tool in international power dynamics involving the US imperialism and newly independent Commonwealth nations, as Britain’s global economic dominance faded.
Elizabeth II, in particular, projected an image of stability and continuity for bourgeois rule. However, as British capitalism’s global status declined, the royals increasingly embraced speculative financial dealings. They engaged with an international financial oligarchy far wealthier than themselves, amplifying reckless and greedy efforts among lower-ranking royals to secure independent income streams.
In this July 10, 2018 file photo, members of the royal family gather on the balcony of Buckingham Palace, with from left, Prince Charles, Camilla the Duchess of Cornwall, Prince Andrew, Queen Elizabeth II, Meghan the Duchess of Sussex, Prince Harry, Prince William and Kate the Duchess of Cambridge, as they watch a flypast of Royal Air Force aircraft pass over Buckingham Palace in London. [AP Photo/Matt Dunham]
Elizabeth sought to streamline the royal household, but this only intensified the greed of those beneath her, who sought funds from global financial elites. The most notable fallout, aside from Charles’s bitter divorce from Princess Diana, was the rupture with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. Now, Andrew’s scandal has overshadowed that episode.
The catalyst for Andrew’s downfall was the release of Nobody’s Girl, the memoirs of Virginia Giuffre, an Epstein victim who tragically took her own life in April before its publication.
Giuffre was recruited by Epstein at age 17 while working at Trump’s Mar-A-Lago resort. She claimed that Epstein paid her $15,000 to provide sexual services to Andrew. A 2001 photograph shows her with the prince when she was 17.
Virginia Giuffre, then 17, with Prince Andrew Albert Christian Edward, second son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, in 2001.
Although Andrew denied these claims, attempts to deflect the allegations only exacerbated the issue. His 2019 interview with BBC’s Emily Maitlis, intended to clear his name, instead backfired spectacularly. Giuffre noted it would assist her legal team to “build an ironclad case” against him.
In 2022, Andrew settled out of court, paying Giuffre $12 million—presumably financed by loans from fellow royals, including his mother. Additionally, he contributed $2 million to Giuffre’s charity supporting victims of sex trafficking. This settlement temporarily spared him from testifying about his involvement with Giuffre.
During the Maitlis interview, Andrew claimed photos of him and Epstein together in 2010 showed he was attempting to sever ties. Yet a 2011 email, now attributed to Andrew, assured Epstein they were “in this together,” ending with, “We’ll play some more soon!!!!”
A still from the interview “Prince Andrew & the Epstein Scandal”. [Photo: BBC]
Giuffre viewed the settlement as “acknowledgement that I and many other women had been victimised and a tacit pledge to never deny it again.” However, she agreed to a silence period of just one year to avoid further tainting Elizabeth’s platinum jubilee celebrations.
Andrew’s ongoing efforts to leverage his status commercially have also created complications. During a 2018 government trade mission to China, he pitched business initiatives to Chinese firms and met with President Xi Jinping’s chief of staff, Cai Qi. This connection has become politically sensitive amid the collapse of a spying case against two men accused of funneling information to Cai amid escalating US tensions with China.
To mitigate the crisis, pressured by Prince William, Andrew voluntarily surrendered his dukedoms, stating he “put my duty to my family and the country first.” Yet, public opinion remains overwhelmingly negative, with a poll indicating 91 percent disapproval.
The royal family resorted to drastic action. Threats to remove his daughters’ titles reportedly pressured Andrew and his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson into vacating Royal Lodge in Windsor—a sprawling 30-bedroom residence generating public outrage.
The banner of Prince Andrew seen here on Royal Lodge in 2008 [Photo by Phillip Williams / CC BY-SA 2.0]
In 2003, Andrew secured a 75-year “cast iron” lease on the property from the Crown Estate for £1 million, with a nominal rent of “one peppercorn” yearly, if requested. Ferguson, who divorced Andrew in 1996, had been residing in a wing of the mansion since 2008. Epstein, her “supreme friend,” financially supported her for 15 years. She publicly apologized to Epstein for previously denying their association to protect herself.
Officially stripping Andrew of his titles against his will would have required parliamentary legislation, a move reminiscent of 1917, when royals supporting Germany during World War One were demoted. This included the Duke of Albany, who remained in Germany and later became an ardent Nazi sympathizer—one of many with ties to the royal family.
Charles circumvented this by issuing a royal warrant removing Andrew from the peerage roll, effectively revoking his Duke of York title. However, with his daughters retaining their titles, calls persist for Andrew’s formal removal from the eighth position in the succession line, alongside demands from Giuffre’s brother, Sky Roberts, for his imprisonment.
Andrew exemplifies the corrosive decline of bourgeois governance and its institutions. While the disgust he provokes is justified and necessary, this scandal cannot be resolved merely through superficial removal of titles and residences. The problem lies within the system itself.
Across the United States, millions of workers and youth have protested against Trump’s authoritarianism under the rallying cry “No Kings.” This slogan should resonate with the British working class, still subjected to an actual monarchy.
The entire ruling elite—advancing policies of social exploitation, dismantling democratic freedoms, and waging global economic and military conflicts—must be confronted decisively. Overthrowing the monarchy is a vital component of the working class’s fight for socialism.
Original article: wsws
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