Hundreds sign petitions calling for Prince Andrew to be stripped of Earl of Inverness title over Jeffrey Epstein links
Petitions calling for Prince Andrew to be stripped of his title as Earl of Inverness have attracted hundreds of new signatures following further revelations connected to his association with notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Andrew, who became the Earl of Inverness upon marrying Sarah Ferguson in 1986, has seen his reputation nosedive in recent years after his links to Epstein – who was understood to be a friend and died in prison in 2019 while facing sex trafficking charges – became widely known.
The prince has denied any wrongdoing, but paid an undisclosed figure to one of Epstein's accusers, Virginia Giuffre, in 2022 to settle a sex assault lawsuit she had brought against the Earl. The settlement came with no admission of liability by the royal.
It followed a notorious TV interview on the BBC in 2019, in which he attempted to address his connection to Epstein – who Andrew met with even after Epstein served time in prison in 2008 for soliciting an underage prostitute – and claimed he could not remember ever meeting Virginia Giuffre.
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The interview was widely seen as a car crash by the general public, with some of his responses – like his claim he is unable to sweat as a result of his time in the Falklands War – sparking a wave of ridicule.
In the years since that interview Andrew has been largely sidelined from official roles representing the Royal Family –and the rare occasions where he has appeared at public events with other Royals have sparked controversy.
But he has retained his titles, despite vocal calls for him to be stripped of them.
And those calls have resurfaced this week after the release of thousands of US court papers linked to the case against Epstein's girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell – who was jailed for 20 years in 2022 for helping him to abuse girls.
Those papers named a number of famous figures with connections to Epstein, including former US president Bill Clinton and late pop star Michael Jackson. Mr Clinton – like Andrew – has denied any knowledge of Epstein's crimes.
Although the papers included no major new revelations, the documents did reveal details of various testimonies taken by investigators.
These included claims by the manager of Epstein's Florida mansion, Juan Alessi, who said Prince Andrew had "spent weeks" at the Palm Beach property, and testified that the Earl stayed in a guest bedroom and received daily massages.
The fresh details have brought fresh attention to Andrew and Epstein's connections, and a resurgence in interest in calls for the prince to be stripped of his Earldom.
There are a number of long-running petitions online which call for this move – with three accessible on the Change.org website boasting a combined signature count of more than 23,000, and a fourth (with nearly 150 signatures) demanding that a street in Fort William called Earl of Inverness Road be renamed.
And one of the petitions has seen a sharp surge in fresh signatures in the days since the court documents were released, having been signed by almost 700 people in the past 24 hours alone.
