Prince Andrew: How royal titles bombshell affects ex Sarah Ferguson and daughters Beatrice and Eugenie

Sarah Ferguson is standing by her disgraced ex after Prince Andrew bowed to pressure amid the damaging Epstein scandal and relinquished all his royal titles and honours.

Even though his move means Ferguson, too, will lose out, having to give up her title of Duchess of York she will be officially known simply as Sarah Ferguson.

Andrew and Ferguson, who married in 1986, remained good friends and still live together in the Royal Lodge Windsor Castle grounds after divorcing in 1996.

“Sarah will always stand by Andrew, she will always have love for him,” a friend told Page Six.

“Sarah is relaxed … it’s always been a courtesy title.”

It is understood the royal couple’s daughters Princess Beatrice, 37, and Princess Eugenie, 35, will not lose their royal positions and will retain their place in the line of succession to the throne.

Andrew will retain his title of “Prince”, in accordance with the Letters Patent issued by King George V in 1917, updated by the late Queen in 2012.

Andrew, King Charles’ younger brother, stepped down as a working royal over the Epstein scandal in 2019 following an expose about his relationship with paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein and questions over his relationship with Virginia Giuffre who claimed she was sexually assaulted by the Duke three times when she was 17.

Prince Andrew denied the allegations but agreed to an out-of-court settlement with Ms Giuffre, believed to be worth around $AU24 million.

Ms Giuffre took her own life at her West Australian farm in April aged 41.

Prince Andrew announced in a statement released by Buckingham Palace on Saturday that in discussion with the King and his immediate and wider family that “the continued accusations about me distract from the work of His Majesty and the Royal Family.”

Referencing his decision to step down from public life more than five years ago, he added: “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.

“I have decided, as I always have, to put my duty to my family and country first.”

Relations between Andrew and the rest of the senior royals has been frosty for years, with he and Sarah told they were once again not invited to the royals’ Christmas celebrations this year.

Sarah was dropped by several charities in September after she, too, was drawn into the Epstein scandal after bombshell revelations about her private correspondence with the late paedophile financier.

Julia’s House Children’s Hospice led the charge, declaring it would be “inappropriate” for the Duchess to continue as patron after the Mail on Sunday published an explosive 2011 email in which the Duchess apologised to Epstein for disavowing him publicly.

The Daily Mail reported that the email at the centre of the scandal shows Ms Ferguson grovelling to Epstein weeks after publicly announcing she had ended all contact with him.

She allegedly wrote that she only distanced herself to protect “my career as a children’s book author and children’s philanthropist,” admitting she was “broken” as she watched “all my children’s work disappearing.”

It was reported that she expressed to Epstein, “Sometimes the heart speaks better than the words. You have my heart. With lots of love, dear Jeffrey.”

The Duchess, who has written more than 50 children’s books, had previously described taking money from Epstein as “a gigantic error of judgment.”

Her spokesperson said the apology email was sent under legal advice after Epstein threatened to sue her for defamation, adding: “She deeply regrets any association with him and abhors paedophilia.”