Why is Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor still in the line of succession?

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was stripped of all of his royal titles, styles and honours in a dramatic decision by the King in October.

While he is no longer a Prince or the Duke of York, and has lost his HRH style, leaving him with the status of a commoner, Andrew remains eighth in line to the throne.

It’s a highly unlikely scenario that the former Duke, 65, would ever be on the verge of becoming monarch, but there have been calls to bring in legislation to stop any chance, however remote, of him becoming King.

At the time of the King’s decision, Downing Street said there were no plans for legislative changes, when asked about potentially making it easier to strip peerages in the future or remove Andrew from the line of succession.

To remove Andrew from the line of succession would passing a law to make the change, which would be complex, as it would require consent from the 14 Commonwealth realms, including Australia and Canada.

And while Andrew is a counsellor of state, this role has previously been described as “inactive”.

Only “working members” of the royal family would be called upon to carry out the sovereign’s duties on a temporary basis as a counsellor of state in case of illness or overseas travel.

The former Prince’s daughters, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, are unaffected by the changes to their father’s royal status. Beatrice and Eugenie remain ninth and 12^th respectively in line to the throne, and retain their HRH styles.

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Meanwhile, their mother, Sarah Ferguson, no longer uses her courtesy title of Duchess of York.

Why was Andrew stripped of his titles?

Andrew stepped back from public life in 2019 after his disastrous Newsnight interview about his friendship with paedophile financier, Jeffrey Epstein. 

While he claimed to have cut off all contact with Epstein in 2010, it recently emerged Andrew had emailed him in 2011 saying “we’re in this together”, three months after he claimed he had broken all contact with the paedophile.

The former Duke of York has for many years faced allegations he sexually assaulted Virginia Giuffre after she was trafficked by Epstein. Andrew strenuously denies the accusations.

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Among the string of scandals was also Andrew’s connections to an alleged Chinese spy, Yang Tengbo, who was banned from the UK by the Home Office.

At the time of the announcement about Andrew’s titles being removed, it was also confirmed that he will move out of Royal Lodge in Windsor and move to an undisclosed property on the King’s Sandringham estate in the new year.