Titles & Styles: What Changed, and How
Three stages of removal — 2019, 2022, 2025 — each different in kind. This page explains the machinery (prerogative, letters patent, the Gazette) and the precise chronology, so the common confusions can be retired.
On the record
How the machinery works
Most British titles and honours are granted — and can be removed — under the royal prerogative: powers held by the monarch and recognized by the courts, exercised through instruments such as letters patent, usually on ministerial advice. Formal notice appears in the London Gazette, the official public record. Choosing not to use a title does not extinguish it; formal instruments do.
The line of succession is different: it is set by statute, and only Parliament (with the cooperation of the other Commonwealth realms, by convention) can change it.
Stage 1 — November 2019: withdrawal, nothing removed
On 20 November 2019 Andrew announced he was stepping back from public duties “for the foreseeable future.” Days later the palace confirmed he would step down from his patronages (reported as ~230). No title, style or honour was removed or relinquished. He remained HRH The Duke of York in every formal sense.
Stage 2 — January 2022: affiliations returned; HRH shelved
On 13 January 2022 — the day after Judge Kaplan refused to dismiss the Giuffre lawsuit — Buckingham Palace announced:
- his military affiliations and royal patronages were returned to the Queen, for redistribution;
- he would defend the case as a private citizen;
- he would no longer use the style “His Royal Highness” in any official capacity.
The dukedom, the princedom and the honours were untouched; “HRH” was not used rather than formally removed. His honorary naval ranks technically survived this stage — until the next one.
Stage 3 — October–November 2025: formal removal
- 17 October 2025: Andrew issues his own statement: in discussion with the King and family, he will no longer use his title (Duke of York) or the honours conferred upon him.
- 30 October 2025: Buckingham Palace announces the King has “initiated a formal process to remove the Style, Titles and Honours of Prince Andrew”; he will be known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor; formal notice is served to surrender the Royal Lodge lease. The statement adds: “These censures are deemed necessary, notwithstanding the fact that he continues to deny the allegations against him.”
- 2 November 2025: Defence Secretary John Healey confirms the honorary rank of vice-admiral will be removed on the King’s direction (finalized 13 December).
- 3 November 2025: letters patent are issued removing the style of “Royal Highness” and the title of “prince”; Gazette notices follow. It is agreed he will use the family surname Mountbatten-Windsor.
- His appointments to the Order of the Garter and the Royal Victorian Order are rescinded; his banner is removed from St George’s Chapel, Windsor.
- Later in November: his life membership of the Savage Club is withdrawn; commemorative plaques bearing his name are removed in the Falkland Islands; a council in Northern Ireland agrees to rename Prince Andrew Way; on 19 November he voluntarily surrenders his firearms and shotgun certificate at police request.
What remains
- The name: Andrew Albert Christian Edward Mountbatten-Windsor.
- Eighth in the line of succession — unchanged, and unchangeable except by legislation.
- The South Atlantic Medal with rosette — campaign medals were not among the rescinded honours.
- A Royal Navy pension and private means (see Money & Homes).
- The dukedom’s legal position after the 2025 instruments is genuinely subtle — a peerage created by letters patent has historically required an Act of Parliament to extinguish — which is why this page describes the removal of style, titles and honours in the palace’s own terms rather than asserting a legal conclusion about the peerage itself. The House of Commons Library published a briefing on exactly these mechanics.
Source notes
- The prerogative/letters patent/Gazette mechanics: the House of Commons Library briefing, “The removal of titles and honours” (2025).
- 2019 and 2022 announcements: Buckingham Palace statements of 20 November 2019, 24 November 2019 and 13 January 2022.
- 17 October, 30 October, 2–3 November 2025: Andrew’s statement; the palace statement (quoted verbatim on Sayings); the Defence Secretary’s confirmation; the letters patent and Gazette notices.
- Garter/RVO rescissions, banner removal, Savage Club, Falklands plaques, Carrickfergus renaming, firearms surrender: reported November 2025.
- Succession position (eighth, 2026) and the statutory position: the Succession to the Crown Act 2013; reported.