The Duke of York should lose the title linking him to the Yorkshire city, it was claimed today after the Queen stripped him of his honorary military roles and he gave up his HRH style in a huge fallout from his civil sex case.
Darryl Smalley, a senior member of City of York Council, has begun a campaign to strip Prince Andrew of his title after a judge in New York threw out the Duke’s motion to dismiss the case two days and ruled it can go to trial.
Labour MP for York Central Rachael Maskell agreed with Mr Smalley’s idea and said it was ‘untenable for the Duke of York to cling onto his title another day longer’ as she started a Twitter hashtag saying #NotInYorksName.
Mr Smalley told MailOnline that the cross-party support for the removal of Prince Andrew’s dukedom could result in a motion asking for the removal being passed by the entire City of York Council.
Meanwhile Security Minister Damian Hinds refused to confirm whether taxpayers would still fund Andrew’s security, saying that police would ‘do what they judge is necessary to protect our country, to protect people in it’.
Andrew, who was born an HRH, will not use it any official capacity, and has also been stripped of his remaining royal patronages in a decision which represents the 61-year-old’s complete removal from official royal life.
The dramatic move is also being seen as an attempt to distance the monarchy from Andrew, who was once second in line to the throne as the spare to the heir, in the year of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.
Andrew was made Duke of York on the day of his wedding to Sarah, Duchess of York – July 23, 1986.
