Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor attends first royal event since being stripped of prince title
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor attended his first royal event since being stripped of his titles as he attended the christening of his granddaughter Athena.
The former prince arrived for the christening of Princess Beatrice’s daughter at the Royal Chapel of St James’s Palace on Friday morning.
He was seen entering through a side door in a green Range Rover in an attempt to escape waiting media.
Andrew’s appearance comes weeks after the King officially stripped his disgraced brother of both his HRH designation and the title of prince over “serious errors of judgment” over his relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
He was also evicted from his home at Royal Lodge in Windsor after it was revealed he had been paying just a “pepper rent” for decades.
His ex-wife Sarah Ferguson, who also lost her royal divorce title and reverted to her maiden name, is thought to have arrived separately for the christening in the early hours of Friday.
Princess Beatrice and Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi’s daughter, Athena, was born on January 22 and is the couple’s second child.
Beatrice’s sister Princess Eugenie and her husband Jack Brooksbank also attended the special ceremony. Singer James Blunt and his wife Sofia Wellesley were also seen among those who attended the ceremony.
Only close family and friends appeared to be present at the christening and no senior royals were present.
The King’s decision to strip Andrew of his titles came after Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre’s posthumous memoirs repeated allegations that she had been forced to have sex with Andrew on three separate occasions in her youth.
The Metropolitan Police is also investigating allegations in the memoirs that Andrew passed Giuffre’s date of birth and social security number to his taxpayer-funded bodyguard in 2011 and asked him to investigate.
He vehemently denied the allegations.
Andrew first resigned from royal duties in 2019 following his disaster news night Interview in which he denied continuing his friendship with Epstein. However, the pair were photographed together at a meeting in New York in December 2010, which Andrew claimed would break up their friendship.
The publication of Giuffre’s memoirs following her death by suicide put new pressure on the royal family to cut ties with Andrew.
He also faced calls to testify to the House Oversight Committee in the US in connection with his “longstanding friendship” with Epstein.
The committee on oversight and government reform, which is investigating the late financier’s sex-trafficking operations and the U.S. government’s handling of the case, said it had identified “financial records that raise serious questions, such as ‘massage for Andrew.'”
