By Sammie Jones-
Prince Andrew has left social media, with users across various platforms discovering that his Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts are no longer available.
The Duke of York took the step after he was stripped of his military titles and Royal patronages
Prince Andrew’s Instagram account is still live but has been made private. His Facebook account is still live, although hasn’t been updated since 2020 – the accounts on both platforms appear with the handle @hrthedukeofyork.
A source revealed today that all his social media accounts were no longer live, but a few of them were taking longer to filter through.
The source told MailOnline: “The changes have been made to reflect the recent statement from Buckingham Palace regarding The Duke of York.”
Armed Forces Minister James Heappey said Andrew had “caused enormous challenges for the royal family”, but avoided saying whether it was right for the Queen to strip her son of his military roles.
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Mr Heappey said that as a minister he did not want to comment further as he “might risk being too colourful”.
It comes as Andrew awaits a civil sex case in the US, with the trial scheduled to take place between September and December.
Virginia Giuffre is suing the duke for allegedly sexually assaulting her when she was a teenager and claims she was trafficked by Andrew’s friend, the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, to have sex with the duke when she was 17 and a minor under US law.
The duke has strenuously denied the allegations.
Ms Giuffre claims Andrew had sex with her against her will at Ghislaine Maxwell’s London home and at Epstein’s mansion on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.
Maxwell, Epstein’s former girlfriend and a friend of Andrew, was convicted in the US on December 29 of procuring teenage girls for Epstein to abuse and will be sentenced this summer.
The duke is also alleged to have abused Ms Giuffre on another occasion during a visit to Epstein’s private island, Little St James, and on a separate occasion at Epstein’s Manhattan mansion.
The Queen has stripped Andrew of his remaining patronages and honorary military roles as the monarchy distanced itself from the duke ahead of potentially damaging developments in his lawsuit.
Eventually, it’s expected that all of Andrew’s social media channels will be made unavailable, but it is thought some of them are taking longer to filter through.
In a statement delivered on January 13, the palace stripped Prince Andrew of his military titles and Royal patronages.
The statement announcing the changes 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.
It came after U.S judge Lewis Kaplan gave the go-ahead for a civil trial to take place in the sexual abuse lawsuit brought against him by Virginia Roberts Giuffre, despite the Duke of York’s attempt to get the case tossed out.