Former Prince Andrew’s Name Changed on Line of Succession in Latest Blow — and Yes, He’s Still in Line to the Throne

Prince Andrew Officially Loses His Titles — and His Place as “Prince” on the Royal Family Website

The change is now offi­cial.

After months of spec­u­la­tion, the for­mer Prince Andrew has been for­mal­ly list­ed as “Andrew Mount­bat­ten-Wind­sor” on the roy­al family’s offi­cial line of suc­ces­sion — mark­ing the first time he’s appeared with­out any roy­al styling or title.

The update, made pub­lic on Novem­ber 26, comes after King Charles III, 77, com­plet­ed the process of strip­ping his younger broth­er of all roy­al titles and hon­ors ear­li­er this month. Andrew’s biog­ra­phy page was qui­et­ly removed from the roy­al web­site in ear­ly Novem­ber, but until now, the suc­ces­sion chart had still described him as The Duke of York.

That has now changed.

A Royal by Blood, Not by Title

Andrew, 65, remains eighth in line to the British throne — behind Prince Harry’s chil­dren, Prince Archie, 6, and Princess Lili­bet, 4 — despite the loss of his sta­tus. The posi­tion can only be removed by an Act of Par­lia­ment and approval from the Com­mon­wealth realms where King Charles serves as monarch, accord­ing to the BBC.

When he was born, Andrew was sec­ond in line, imme­di­ate­ly after his old­er broth­er Charles. But as Charles had chil­dren and grand­chil­dren, Andrew’s place con­tin­ued to drop — along with his pub­lic rep­u­ta­tion.

The Fall from Grace

Once known for his mil­i­tary ser­vice and char­i­ty work, Andrew stepped back from roy­al duties in 2019 fol­low­ing his dis­as­trous BBC News­night inter­view about his friend­ship with con­vict­ed sex offend­er Jef­frey Epstein.

In ear­ly 2022, Queen Eliz­a­beth II stripped him of his mil­i­tary titles and roy­al patron­ages after a U.S. judge denied his attempt to dis­miss a sex­u­al-assault law­suit filed by Vir­ginia Giuf­fre. Andrew lat­er set­tled the case out of court for an undis­closed sum, while main­tain­ing his inno­cence.

Giuf­fre, who died by sui­cide ear­li­er this year, alleged in a posthu­mous mem­oir that Andrew “believed hav­ing sex with me was his birthright,” describ­ing encoun­ters arranged by Epstein begin­ning when she was 17.

Recent­ly leaked emails have also revealed that Andrew remained in con­tact with Epstein after pub­licly claim­ing to have cut ties — fur­ther inten­si­fy­ing the scruti­ny.

A Rare Move in Royal History

Though unprece­dent­ed in mod­ern times, Andrew’s removal from all titles fol­lows roy­al tra­di­tion: King Edward VIII relin­quished his place in the line of suc­ces­sion after abdi­cat­ing in 1936, becom­ing the Duke of Wind­sor. And Prince Michael of Kent tem­porar­i­ly lost his spot after mar­ry­ing a Catholic in 1978, only to be rein­stat­ed with the 2013 Suc­ces­sion to the Crown Act.

Life After the Palace

On Octo­ber 17, Andrew announced that he would vol­un­tar­i­ly give up his roy­al titles, but Buck­ing­ham Palace con­firmed the deci­sion was made offi­cial by Let­ters Patent on Novem­ber 3.

Since then, the for­mer prince has been spot­ted rid­ing his horse at Wind­sor Cas­tle — the first pub­lic sight­ing since los­ing his titles. Despite expec­ta­tions that he will vacate Roy­al Lodge, the 30-bed­room man­sion he’s called home for 20 years, sources say he has not yet moved to his new res­i­dence at San­dring­ham Estate.

For now, Andrew Mount­bat­ten-Wind­sor remains a roy­al by blood alone — a title­less man liv­ing in the long shad­ow of the House of Wind­sor.