LONDON (AP) — Prince Andrew said Friday he is giving up his royal title of the Duke of York and other honors after his friendship with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein returned to the headlines.

The younger brother of King Charles III said he and the royal family had decided “the continued accusations about me distract from the work of His Majesty and the royal family,” Prince Andrew said in a statement released by Buckingham Palace.

It comes as excerpts have been published of an upcoming posthumous memoir from Virginia Roberts Giufffre, who has alleged she was trafficked by Epstein and had sex with Andrew when she was 17.

Andrew, 65, stepped down from public life in 2019, but denied wrongdoing.

In a statement Friday he said that “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.”

Giuffre died by suicide in April. In the memoir she details alleged encounters with Prince Andrew, who she sued in 2021, claiming that they had sex when she was 17. Andrew denied her claims and the two settled the lawsuit in 2022.

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