Princess Beatrice and Eugenie will retain their Royal titles despite their father Andrew no longer being a Prince.
They will keep their Honours in line with King George V‘s Letters Patent of 1917, it is understood.
However, their disgraced father will now be known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor.
Amid the controversy Charles is said to be very keen to ‘protect’ nieces Princess Beatrice, 37, and Princess Eugenie, 35, who remain Her Royal Highnesses as granddaughters of Queen Elizabeth.
‘He wouldn’t have wanted to sign off on anything that would impact them,’ a source told the Daily Mail.
‘His Majesty has today initiated a formal process to remove the Style, Titles and Honours of Prince Andrew,’ the palace said.
‘Prince Andrew will now be known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor. His lease on Royal Lodge has, to date, provided him with legal protection to continue in residence.
‘Formal notice has now been served to surrender the lease and he will move to alternative private accommodation.
The sisters will continue to be known as HRH Princess Beatrice and HRH Princess Eugenie
It comes a week after the disgraced former duke renounced his titles after King Charles III threatened to have them officially stripped unless he ‘saw sense’.
‘These censures are deemed necessary, notwithstanding the fact that he continues to deny the allegations against him.
‘Their Majesties wish to make clear that their thoughts and utmost sympathies have been, and will remain with, the victims and survivors of any and all forms of abuse.’
Sources told the Mail that the move was entirely down to the King and his advisors, without pressure from the government or other family members, such as Prince William.
‘The process has been underway for some while but there was a need to get it right in the face of some very big challenges,’ a source said.
Notice was not served on Prince Andrew to move. It was his lease, so it was up to the former Duke of York to serve notice himself, suggesting that he is not fighting the process.
It is understood the King is sending Royal Warrants to the Lord Chancellor to remove the Dukedom of York from the Peerage Roll, and the Title of Prince and Style of ‘Royal Highness’ from Andrew.
The name title change, which will take immediate effect.
Andrew will now move onto a property on the private Sandringham estate and it is understood any future accommodation he lives will be privately funded by The King.
Pictured: The Royal Lodge. Andrew will now move onto a property on the private Sandringham estate and it is understood any future accommodation he lives will be privately funded by The King
Sarah Ferguson has been evicted from Royal Lodge alongside Andrew as the shamed ex-Duke is stripped of his Prince title
Meanwhile, Sarah Ferguson will make her own arrangements, even though she has lived with her disgraced ex-husband in their 30-room Grade II listed mansion since 2008 despite divorcing in 1996.
It comes a week after the disgraced former duke renounced his titles after King Charles III threatened to have them officially stripped unless he ‘saw sense’.
His Majesty, made it clear the would not hesitate to take ‘further action’ if his younger brother continued to cling on to his dukedom and other honours after it emerged he lied about cutting ties with paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, The Daily Mail previously revealed.
And despite the tsunami of growing evidence mounting against him, the 65-year-old was understood to still be digging his heel is with a ‘startling lack of contrition’, in a situation the King deemed ‘intolerable’, sources previously said.
Last week, the row over Royal Lodge where Andrew had resided continued to grow amid damning new revelations in a posthumous memoir from Andrew’s sex abuse accuser Virginia Giuffre, who took her own life this year, aged 41.
Nobody’s Girl: A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice is scheduled for release in October, with the manuscript finished before she died.
The explosive book revolves around her years spent as a sex slave to paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein and his British madam Ghislaine Maxwell.
Extracts published by The Guardian show Ms Giuffre, who said she was trafficked by Epstein three times for sex with Andrew, calls the ex-Duke ‘entitled’ and viewing sex as his ‘birthright’.
In a bombshell statement released tonight, Buckingham Palace said he will now be known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor
Within the 400-page autobiography, she also claims the ex-Duke said ‘thank you’ in a ‘clipped British accent’ after their alleged first encounter when she was 17.
She also recalls how Ghislaine Maxwell heaped praise on her after the encounter, saying, ‘You did well, the Prince had fun’.
Prince Andrew denied having sex with Ms Giuffre, but forked out millions in an out of court settlement in February 2022.
The Royal Family had been prepared for the further scandal the book would likely cause, knowing it was to be published this month.
But a kind of tipping point came when scandalous emails from Andrew to Epstein were uncovered by the Mail on Sunday in a world exclusive last week – causing fears more are yet to emerge.
In the astonishing message, the Prince told the paedophile ‘we are in this together’ a day after the MoS released the infamous picture of the Prince with his alleged then-teenage sex victim Ms Giuffre.
He said he was ‘concerned’ about the impact this newspaper’s revelations would have on his friend but reassured the vile billionaire they would ‘rise above’ press scrutiny.
It was sent to Epstein 12 weeks after Andrew had supposedly ceased all contact with the convicted sex offender.
Last week, the row over Royal Lodge where Andrew had resided continued to grow
Members of anti–monarchy group Republic stood outside Royal Lodge at Great Windsor Park – last week to demand greater transparency
The leaked email provides definitive proof the Prince lied in his car-crash interview with BBC’s Newsnight when he claimed he ‘never had any contact’ with Epstein after the pair were famously pictured walking together in New York’s Central Park in December 2010.
The revelation comes just weeks after the MoS exposed how the former Duchess of York wrote Epstein a gushing message calling him her ‘supreme friend’ – despite telling journalists she would never have anything to do with him again.
Writing to Epstein on February 28, 2011 – the day after the MoS published the now infamous picture of him with a teenage Virginia Giuffre that led to his downfall – Andrew said: ‘I’m just as concerned for you! Don’t worry about me!
‘It would seem we are in this together and will have to rise above it.
‘Otherwise keep in close touch and we’ll play some more soon!!!!’
Andrew signed off with: ‘A, HRH The Duke of York, KG’.
KG refers to Duke’s ‘Knight of the Garter’ – a prestigious position he has held since 2006 and which he retained until it was removed on Friday.
The hugely embarrassing email heaped further pressure on the Royal Family to sever all ties with the disgraced ex-Yorks and raised fresh questions about their future at Royal Lodge.
Prince Andrew, Virginia Giuffre and sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell in a photo reportedly taken in 2001, when Giuffre was 17 years old. Prince Andrew denied having sex with Ms Giuffre, but forked out millions in an out of court settlement in February 2022
And internal talks on the matter began weeks ago after Prince William was left ‘seething’ by his uncle’s behaviour at the Duchess of Kent’s funeral last month.
Andrew was pictured sidling up to the Prince and Princess of Wales, which the heir to the throne saw as him being distracted from the ceremony.
No 10 has also reportedly been pressuring the royals to deal with the scandal, which has run on for years and saw Andrew step back from public life in 2019.
The intervention from Downing Street came after the Prince was entangled in the ongoing Chinese spying row.
He was suspected of receiving sensitive information after meeting senior Beijing official Cai Qi at least three times in 2018 and 2019.
After Andrew and his ex-wife agreed to relinquish their titles, Buckingham Palace released a statement on the Prince’s behalf.
It marked the first time it had spoken for him since his car crash Newsnight interview in 2019.
The statement read: ‘In discussion with The King, and my immediate and wider family, we have concluded the continued accusations about me distract from the work of His Majesty and the Royal Family.
‘I have decided, as I always have, to put my duty to my family and country first. I stand by my decision five years ago to stand back from public life.
‘With His Majesty’s agreement, we feel I must now go a step further.
‘I will therefore no longer use my title or the honours which have been conferred upon me. As I have said previously, I vigorously deny the accusations against me.’
This is a breaking story, more to follow…
