Councillors also called for him to relinquish his Duke of York title in the wake of his out-of-court settlement with Virginia Giuffre in the US….reports Asian Lite News
Prince Andrew, the Duke of York has been stripped of his Freedom of the City of York honour following a vote by councillors at an extraordinary meeting.
The motion to remove the accolade given to Prince Andrew in 1987 was carried unanimously at a full council meeting, the BBC reported.
Councillors also called for him to relinquish his Duke of York title in the wake of his out-of-court settlement with Virginia Giuffre in the US.
In February, the prince agreed to pay an undisclosed sum to Giuffre, who had accused him of sexual assault.
Giuffre had been suing the Duke of York in a civil case, claiming he sexually assaulted her on three occasions when she was 17, allegations he has repeatedly denied.
York Liberal Democrats, the largest group on City of York Council, said the prince had been contacted by the local authority before the meeting to inform him of the motion.
According to BBC, both Buckingham Palace and a spokesperson for the Duke of York declined to comment.
At the council meeting, Liberal Democrat councillor Darryl Smalley urged members to remove the freemanship for the first time in the city’s history.
Sexual abuse allegations levelled against Queen Elizabeth II’s second son, which he settled out of court in the United States earlier this year, and his associations with Epstein and Maxwell were “incredibly serious and cannot be ignored”, he told the meeting.
“We believe it is inappropriate for Prince Andrew to retain his ambassadorial title,” he said, adding that he should also have his official title, the Duke of York, removed.
The Freedom of the City of York was bestowed upon the prince as a wedding gift in 1987. The rank of duke, like other peerages, can only be removed by an act of parliament, which last happened in 1917.
Speaking after the extraordinary council meeting, held at York Racecourse on Wednesday evening, Liberal Democrat Darryl Smalley said the government and the Royal Family must “step in to remove his title to finally end Prince Andrew’s connection to York” if the prince “fails to do so”, the BBC reported.