PRINCE ANDREW has been stripped of the Freedom of the City of York following a council meeting on Wednesday.
The decision to revoke the ambassadorial title comes following the high-profile legal case saw the prince settle accusations of sexual assault by Virginia Giuffre out of court for an undisclosed sum.
She had claimed that he sexually assaulted her on three different occasions when she was 17 years old.
He was granted the honour in a grand ceremony shortly after he was wed to Sarah Ferguson in 1987.
City of York Council members representing all the main parties voted for the motion to remove Andrew’s honour.
At the meeting, several councillors also called for Andrew to relinquish his Duke of York title.
Rachael Maskell, Labour MP for York Central was one such councillor who voted for the title to be removed, and she has since shared a petition on Twitter to progress the matter.
https://t.co/0O9AIcYXLF Now the Freedom of the City of York has been removed, it is time for the title 'Duke' to be removed too. Please sign my petition 👇#DitchTheDuke
— 💙Rachael Maskell MP (@RachaelMaskell) April 27, 2022
The rank of duke and other patronages can only be removed by an act of parliament, which last happened in 1917.
Liberal Democrat Darryl Smalley, who proposed the motion, said the government and the Royal Family must "step in to remove his title to finally end Prince Andrew's connection to York" if the prince "fails to do so".
"Speaking as a resident of the city, it't not been great looking at the broadsheets, looking at international media and even our local paper, and even in this segment today," he told ITV's Good Morning Britain.
"The city is constantly linked to that man and as the very serious allegations came out it's really been quite upsetting having York - a fantastic city with a brilliant international reputation - linked to that man."
Smalley also suggested that the councillors were following the example that Queen Elizabeth had set when she approved Prince Andrew resigning returning his military titles and resigning from public life.
