London, Dec 1 (EFE).- British King Charles III has officially stripped his brother Andrew of the prestigious honors of the Order of the Garter and the Royal Victorian Order, as reported this Monday by The Gazette, the official journal of the United Kingdom. The publication indicates that Andrew's appointment as Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, dated April 23, 2006, and as Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order, dated February 19, 2011, has been 'cancelled and annulled' and his name will be 'erased from the register' of both orders. The monarch had previously stripped him of his hereditary right to be a prince and to use the style of Royal Highness, as well as the title of Duke of York, which was formally removed from the peerage register. Pressured by some lawmakers and public opinion, the sovereign announced in October that he would strip his brother of all his titles, after it became known that he maintained his relationship with American pedophile Jeffrey Epstein beyond 2010, despite assuring that he had cut it off. Attention to the now 65-year-old Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor intensified following the posthumous publication on October 21 of the memoirs of American Virginia Giuffre, who accused him of abusing her on at least three occasions, at least two of them when she was a minor. The late Queen Elizabeth II's favorite son denied knowing Giuffre, although in 2022 he reached an out-of-court multi-million dollar settlement with her to drop a civil lawsuit she had filed against him in the United States. Since then, some members of the U.S. Congress have demanded that he testify, while the British republican movement Republic is raising funds to try to reopen an investigation in the UK. The Order of the Garter is the oldest and most prestigious in the country and is awarded at the monarch's discretion in recognition of public service, while the Royal Victorian Order distinguishes loyalty and service to the crown. Despite losing his titles and decorations, Andrew retains his honorary rank of Vice Admiral in the Royal Navy, although the British government has indicated it is considering revoking it, and remains in the line of succession to the throne. It is also expected that the former duke will move from his current residence, Royal Lodge, on the grounds of Windsor Castle (about 40 km from London), managed by a public body, to the King's private estate at Sandringham, in eastern England, after the press revealed he has not paid rent for decades, although he did make an initial investment to renovate the property.
