Prince Andrew: Bond reveals 'precedent' for Jubilee balcony

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Prince Andrew has held the Honorary Freedom of York since 1987, having first been bestowed the honour shortly after his marriage to Sarah Ferguson. But councillors from across all the main parties on the City of York Council voted to remove Andrew’s honour on Wednesday, with two formal abstentions noted from the Lord Mayor and Lord Mayor-elect. Councillors were told the Duke is the first person to ever have the Freedom of the City removed.

Lib Dem Darryl Smalley, City of York Council’s executive member for culture, leisure & communities, said at the meeting: “The Honorary Freedom of York is the highest honour we, as a city, can bestow on those who represent the very best of York.

“The honour is held by many notable and accomplished people who carry it with pride and responsibly.

“Having been stripped of his military roles and royal patronages by the Queen, we believe that it is right to remove all links that Prince Andrew still has with our great city.”

The move to remove Andrew’s freedom of the city is a symbolic fall from grace, as many gathered to commend Andrew when he was first granted the honour more than 30 years ago.

Royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams told Express.co.uk: “This is significant as it was a unanimous vote, according to a local poll 88 percent of people in York wanted his links to York removed.

“It’s ironic that crowds of over 200,000 attended in 1987 when, a year after his marriage and shortly after his service in the Falklands, he was granted an honour which dates back to the 13th Century.”

The City of York Council’s decision to remove the honour from Andrew is yet another blow for the Queen’s second son, who has lost swathes of other titles in recent months.

Earlier this year, Andrew returned his honorary military titles to the Queen including his role as Colonel of the Grenadier Guards and Honorary Air Commodore of RAF Lossiemouth, in addition to several other foreign military honours.

A statement from Buckingham Palace earlier this year read: “With The Queen’s approval and agreement, The Duke of York’s military affiliations and Royal patronages have been returned to The Queen.

“The Duke of York will continue not to undertake any public duties and is defending this case as a private citizen.”

Earlier this year, Prince Andrew, Duke of York reached an undisclosed out-of-court settlement in the US civil case brought against him by Virginia Giuffre.

The settlement was not an admission of liability on the Duke’s part, and he has consistently denied all of the allegations strenuously.

But his reputation has taken a major hit, and Andrew also no longer uses his HRH title in an official public capacity.

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Could Prince Andrew lose his Duke of York title?

The Queen awarded her second son the historic Duke of York title when he married Sarah Ferguson in 1986, but Andrew is now facing calls by some to be stripped of the title.

At the meeting of City of York councillors on Wednesday, many are thought to have called for the Queen or Government to strip Andrew of his Duke of York title too.

York Central’s Labour MP Rachael Maskell has also called for Andrew to lose the title and sever his association with the historic cathedral city for good.

Formally removing Andrews’s title would likely be an issue for Parliament and the Queen, who is required to give Royal Assent.

But as a royal expert highlighted, Andrew could stop using his Duke of York title without it being formally stripped from him.

Mr Fitzwilliams explained: “It would take an act of Parliament to remove his title of Duke of York. A possible compromise might be that, as with his HRH, he keeps it but doesn’t use it.”

Will Prince Andrew return to royal duties?

Prince Andrew stepped back from royal duties for the “foreseeable future” after his disastrous BBC Newsnight Interview in 2019, and the Palace confirmed earlier this year that there has been no change to this arrangement.

Andrew did make a rare public appearance last month at the memorial held for his late father Prince Philip at Westminster Abbey, and many were shocked by the Queen’s decision to arrive with Andrew.

Whether Andrew will make further public appearances is unclear, and all eyes will be on the Royal Family’s traditional appearance on the Buckingham Palace balcony in June to see if Andrew will appear at the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.

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