Victoria Arbiter: royal correspondent on Prince Andrew losing his royal titles following renewed Epstein scandal

Prince Andrew allegedly asked a police officer to 'dig the dirt' on his accuser before the publishing of a now infamous photograph of the two.

Andrew's given up the title Duke of York amid turmoil surrounding his alleged involvement with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

It's believed he tried to obtain personal information about his deceased accuser Virginia Giuffre.

Royal correspondent Victoria Arbiter says it's likely there's more details to come.

"The reason there's been this renewed interest in Prince Andrew is... the news just keeps on coming ever since that Newsnight interview in 2019. But there's been renewed focus because of this posthumous memoir." 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now let's talk about Prince Andrew, because the bad news
about this chap just keeps coming. Overnight, the UK Police
announced they're looking into allegations that Prince Andrew hit up
has met bodyguard to dug up dirt on Virginia Dufrey,
his accuser, and just a day earlier, Prince Andrew announced
he would no longer use his royal titles, including the
Duke of York. Now Royal Commentate of Victoria arbiters with

(00:20):
us on this Hi, Victoria.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
Good afternoon, Heather.

Speaker 1 (00:24):
Obviously, what's happened here is Andrew has only promised to
stop using the titles, but he hasn't given up the titles.
There are now calls for the King to strip him
of the titles. Will that happen?

Speaker 2 (00:34):
Well, that is indeed what's happened. I would be surprised
if he strips him just yet, simply because of what's involved. Heather.
You know, it's very easy for all of us to say,
strip him of his title, get rid of this princey title.
It's not as simple as that. In order to strip
his hereditary peerage, the dukedom, the Duke of York, which
was a gift from the Queen when he got married.
That would require an Act of Parliament, and of course

(00:56):
people are going to be complaining and negative either way.
An Act of Parliament requires a lot of time, parliamentary time,
and some people would argue that MPs need to be
concerned with other things in the UK right now. By
ensuring that Prince Andrew volunteered, I say volunteered loosely, the
King more likely forced him to volunteer. It was a quick,

(01:17):
effective solution, but it also meant that it was effective immediately.
That means right away he stopped using his Duke of
York title, rather than it dragging out through Parliament over
the course of six to twelve months.

Speaker 1 (01:29):
Do you believe there's more to come?

Speaker 2 (01:32):
Well, I suspect there may well be the reason there's
been this renewed interest in Prince Andrew. As you rightly
said in your introduction, it just the news seems to
keep on coming, doesn't it. Ever since that News Night
interview in twenty nineteen. But there's been renewed focus because
of this posthumous memoir that's being published this week by
Virginia Jeffree, who very sadly took her own life back
in April. Extracts from that memoir have been published in

(01:54):
the British Prayers over the last two weeks or so.
Of course, much of the focus has been on Prince Andrew,
but there's a whole book here, and we don't know
what else is to come, So it's entirely possible that
this was Buckingham Pallace's way of getting ahead of whatever
else may be to come. Some people are going to
say it's not enough. Other people are going to say,
and rightly so here too, that the Prince has yet

(02:16):
to be investigated for, charged or convicted of a crime.
So how far can you go when there's no evidence
or certainly no conviction of wrongdoing. But I think right
now we have to look at what the King has achieved.
He has stripped away his state funded police protection. He's
stopped funding him himself. Bucking On Palace is removing all
traces of him from the website. He's ensured that he's

(02:37):
given up the use of that title. He's made him
give up his honors. He tried to get him to
move out of Royal Lodge, but Prince Andrew has a
pretty iron clad lease. While he can afford to pay
for Royal Lodge. He'll continue to stay there. The King
has kind of at this point done everything that he
can without any evidence of criminal wrongdoing.

Speaker 1 (02:58):
Now part of the reason the King is doing this
as well as because he wants some clear air for
a meeting that he's having with the Pope in a
couple of days time. Given how much coverage there is
of this at the moment in the UK, can he
really get clear here?

Speaker 2 (03:12):
Unlikely? And that's because we know in the media if
it bleeds, it leads to coin a phrase and Prince
Andrew is just it's a salacious, nasty, gossipy story and
there is so much that's going to come from this,
and in the UK certainly. I'm not sure what the
publication date is there in New Zealand, but Virginia Jufree's
book comes out in the UK tomorrow. The king state

(03:32):
visit to the Vatican is on the twenty second and
twenty third, so Wednesday and Thursday, and this is a
very important visit for him. Is going to be the
first British monarch to pray alongside a Catholic pope in
well since the sixteenth century. This is a very important
visit for him. And certainly it'll get coverage. But if
there's more in this memoir, then you can be sure
everyone's going to be talking about that.

Speaker 1 (03:53):
Victoria's always good to talk to you. Thank you so much.
Victoria Abbata, Royal commentator. For more from Hither Dupless and Drive,
listen live to News Talks it B from four pm weekdays,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio