Prince Andrew: Duke of York stripped of his military titles

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A US judge on Wednesday dismissed a bid by the Duke of York to have Virginia Giuffre’s civil sex case thrown out. And in a further blow to Andrew, the Queen today stripped him of his honorary military titles and royal patronages, while a royal source said he will stop using his HRH style.

His ex-wife the Duchess of York is said to be “devastated” by the development that the lawsuit can go to trial.

A source told OK! magazine: “Fergie is devastated.

“She’s a very positive person and she always sees the sunny side up in life, but this has been a blow.

“They really did believe he would be able to just walk away from this.

“They thought the Newsnight interview would help him, but it did the exact opposite.

“And nobody is above the law.

“The family are regrouping and discussing what to do going forward.”

Ms Guiffre is suing Andrew in the US for allegedly sexually assaulting her when she was a teenager.

She claims she was trafficked by the Duke’s friend Jeffrey Epstein to have sex with the royal when she was 17 and a minor under US law.

Andrew has strenuously denied the allegations.

A source close to the Duke said he would “continue to defend himself” against Ms Giuffre’s allegations following Judge Lewis A Kaplan’s decision to dismiss his legal team’s attempt to have the case thrown out.

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The source said: “Given the robustness with which Judge Kaplan greeted our arguments, we are unsurprised by the ruling.

“However, it was not a judgment on the merits of Ms Giuffre’s allegations.

“This is a marathon not a sprint and the duke will continue to defend himself against these claims.”

The Queen’s second son could pursue an out of court, and potentially multimillion-pound, settlement.

But there have been suggestions Ms Giuffre may not be prepared to accept a deal.

Andrew could ignore the case, meaning by default there would be a finding against him, or he could fight it out, meaning he would have to give a deposition under oath and the sexual assault allegations would be explored in open court.

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