Prince Andrew stripped of ANOTHER honour despite the Queen's united front

Prince Andrew has been stripped of ANOTHER honour - despite the Queen making a recent united front with her son.

• Prince Andrew has been stripped of his Freedom of the City of York.
• The Duke of York was given the honour in 1987 but councillors voted unanimously to strip him of the title.
• This royal news comes after it was confirmed Brits are set for an extra perk on June's four-day weekend thanks to the Queen (opens in new tab).

Prince Andrew has been stripped of his Freedom of the City of York after councillors voted unanimously to remove the honour despite the Queen's recent united front with the Duke.

Calls to strip the Duke of York of his title have been made by the city of York, 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 Ms Giuffre, who had accused him of sexual assault. Ms 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.

But while the Queen has put on a united front with her son after reportedly paying the settlement (opens in new tab) and choosing to snub Prince Charles and William (opens in new tab) to walk with him to the Service of Thanksgiving for Prince Philip, held at Westminster Abbey last month, councillors have taken steps to distance the 'disgraced' Prince from their city.

The motion to remove the accolade awarded to Prince Andrew in 1987 was taken at a full council meeting. During the meeting, Labour's Aisling Musson told the meeting, "We owe it to the people of York" to also remove his title."

And while Independent councillor Mark Warters said he supported the "purely symbolic act" of removing the freedom of the city. He added, "It must be stated though that Prince Andrew has not been convicted of any offence in a criminal or civil court."

York Liberal Democrats, said Prince Andrew, who is still in the royal line of succession (opens in new tab), had been contacted by the local authority before the meeting to inform him of the motion and according to the BBC, both Buckingham Palace and a spokesperson for the Duke of York have declined to comment.

Previous recipients of freedom of the city include the Duke of Wellington, Winson Churchill, John Barry and Dame Judi Dench. Prince Andrew is said to be the first person to have his freedom honour removed by the city and Rachael Maskell, Labour MP for York Central has backed calls for his title 'The Duke of York' to be relinquished.

But the rank of duke can only be removed by an act of Parliament - and this last happened in 1919, when King George V struck off the titles of two Dukes, a prince and a Baron.

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".

Mr Smalley, the council's executive member for culture, leisure & communities and proposer of the motion, said, "Having been stripped of his military roles and royal patronages by the Queen, we believe that it is right to remove all links that Prince Andrew still has with our great city.

"I was pleased to see councillors of all parties support this motion and make it clear that it is no longer appropriate for Prince Andrew to represent York and its residents."

He added, “The next logical step is now for Prince Andrew to do the right thing and relinquish his Duke of York title. If he fails to do so, the Government and Buckingham Palace must step in to remove his title to finally end Prince Andrew's connection to York.”

The Queen celebrates her Platinum Jubilee (opens in new tab) and it's expected that Prince Andrew could take part in the celebrations.

Its claimed Prince Charles and Prince William were involved (opens in new tab) with the decision to strip Prince Andrew of his titles earlier this year after news broke that Prince Andrew had been stripped of his military titles and the use of HRH by the Queen.

The Queen confirmed his previous title stripping on Instagram with a post that read, "With the Queen’s approval and agreement, the Duke of York’s military affiliations and Royal patronages have been returned to the Queen. The Duke of York will continue not to undertake any public duties and is defending this case as a private citizen.”

Meanwhile, Independent Dave Taylor said if Prince Andrew was stripped of his Duke of York title, he would prefer Princess Beatrice to become Duchess of York. "In contrast to her father, she is personable, intelligent and does her homework," he added.