Elizabeth II

Oct. 30 (UPI) — England’s Prince Andrew has been stripped of his official title and will leave his royal residence amid fallout from his relationship with the late convicted sex offender, Jeffrey Epstein.

Andrew, the son of the late Queen Elizabeth II, is alleged to have attended gatherings hosted by Epstein.

Buckingham Palace announced Thursday that King Charles III will initiate the process of removing Andrew’s “style, titles and honors.”

“Prince Andew will now be known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor,” a statement from the palace said.

“His lease on Royal Lodge has provided him with legal protection to continue in his residence. Formal notice has now been served to surrender the lease and he will move to alternative private accommodation.”

Andrew stopped using his Duke of York title and announced in a statement released by the palace that “the continued accusations about me may distract from the work of His Majesty and the Royal Family.”

It is the first time that a member of the royal family has been stripped of their title in more than a century, according to the House of Commons.

Andrew will move from the royal residence on the grounds of Windsor Castle to a property on Sandringham, which is the private estate of the King in Norfolk, England, according to ABC News.

Andrew has consistently denied accusations against him regarding his association with Epstein and attacked the credibility of Virginia Giuffre, author of a book centered on Epstein called, “Nobody’s Girl.”

Giuffre died of an apparent suicide in April.

In Feb, 2022, Andrew settled a sexual assault lawsuit filed by Giuffre while not admitting any wrongdoing. Epstein and Giuffre settled a lawsuit for $500,000 in 2009.

Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s former accomplice, was convicted in 2021 on child sex trafficking and other charges connected to her involvement with Epstein.

Maxwell has consistently denied all wrongdoing and is the only Epstein associate who has been charged in connection with his crimes.

Oct. 17 (UPI) — Prince Andrew, facing scrutiny of his ties to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, on Friday said he will relinquish his royal titles, including Duke of York, and end his membership of the Order of Garter.

Andrew, who made the announcement after meeting with his brother, King Charles III, will only retain the title of prince, which is required because he was born the son of a queen, Elizabeth II.

Andrew, 65, remains eighth in line to the throne. His other siblings are Princess Anne and Prince Edward.

The last time a duke title was taken away was more than 100 years ago, historian Anthony Seldon told BBC News TV. In 1919, Prince Charles Edward, who was one of Queen Victoria‘s grandsons, lost the title of Duke of Albany for fighting on the German side during World War I.

“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,” Prince Andrew said in a statement released by Buckingham Palace. “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.”

In 2019, he was stripped of his military titles and positions on several charities.

Andrew has denied accusations against him by Virginia Giuffre in a 2015 lawsuit, and has never been arrested in connection with the abuse allegations. They reached an undisclosed out-of-court settlement in 2022.

“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,” Andrew said on Friday. “As I have said previously, I vigorously deny the accusations against me.”

Other members of the royal family were consulted during the discussions, including William, the Prince of Wales, and son of Charles, CNN reported.

“Things are simply not going away,” Robert Hardman, who has written a biography of KingCharles, told the BBC.

“Nothing really has changed constitutionally. What has changed is that he’s not going to use these titles.”

Andrew’s former wife, Sarah, the Duchess of York, will be known as “Sarah Ferguson.”

Their daughters, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, will not be affected by the decision.

Andrew will no longer attend any royal family’s Christmas events, a source told CNN, but will continue to reside at the Royal Lodge in Windsor in a private tenancy agreement.

Giuffre, who died on April 25 by suicide at 41, alleged Epstein trafficked her and forced her to have sex with friends in 2001, including Andrew. She said Andrew was aware she was underage at 17.

Giuffre also said Andrew sexually abused her on Epstein’s private island in the U.S. Virgin Islands, his mansion in Manhattan and at his former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell’s home in London.

The Guardian this week published extracts from the memoir of Giuffre. She claimed the prince “believed that having sex with me was his birthright.”

Andrew also faced scrutiny of his links to an alleged Chinese spy, Yang Tengbo.

A tribunal hearing in December upheld an earlier decision to bar Yang from the British. It was revealed Yang was authorized to act on Andrew’s behalf during business meetings with potential Chinese investors in Britain.

Sept. 17 (UPI) — U.S. President Donald Trump‘s visit to England with King Charles III at Windsor Castle on Wednesday has sparked large protests in London and at Windsor.

Police estimated there were about 5,000 protesters at Parliament Square in London, and a smaller protest gathered outside of Windsor Castle.

Trump is unlikely to see the protests since most of his day and evening will be spent inside Windsor Castle. On Wednesday evening, the king and Queen Camilla will host a banquet, at which Charles and Trump are expected to give speeches. The king’s speech was written on the advice of the United Kingdom government, BBC’s Chris Mason reported.

The protests were organized by the Stop Trump Coalition, a group of more than 50 unions and charities.

Some protesters carried signs with slogans written across them, including “no to racism,” “no to Trump” and “stop arming Israel,” BBC reported. The 20-foot-tall Trump Baby blimp that greeted the president during his visit in 2019 has been made into smaller balloons that some protestors carried.

Metropolitan Police’s Deputy Assistant Commissioner Louise Puddefoot said police had been in close contact with the organizers and had asked them to be “considerate to the local community” and keep disruption to a minimum.

Before the march, a spokesperson for the coalition said: “A government that will bow down to Trump and to racism is one that will open the door to fascism.”

The protest groups said they would demonstrate to “defeat the politics of Trumpism” and to promote “an alternative, democratic vision of the world based on peace, social justice and international cooperation.”

The march ended at Parliament Square, and several people spoke on a stage. There was a performance by singer Billy Bragg, and speakers included former Labour Party members of Parliament Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana, comedian Nish Kumar and Green Party leader Zack Polanski.

Zoe Gardner, a political commentator and one of the organizers of the protest, said that the president “represents everything that we hate.”

“We want our government to show some backbone, and have a little bit of pride and represent that huge feeling of disgust at Donald Trump’s politics in the U.K.,” she said.

Auriel Dowty Glanville, a climate activist from Wimbledon, said she was demonstrating because climate change was “the biggest threat facing us on Earth.”

She said the government giving him a second state visit was “appalling,” saying, “It’s all about the trade deal.”

On Tuesday, four men were arrested for projecting large images and videos of Trump and sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein on the walls of a turret at Windsor Castle. On Wednesday, as Trump toured the grounds and visited with the king, a van with a similar image was being driven around the castle, with the words, “Welcome to the U.K., Donald.” Police stopped the man and sent him on his way. He wasn’t arrested.

As the Trumps arrived via Marine One Wednesday morning, they were greeted by the Prince and Princess of Wales — William and Kate — and then by Charles and Camilla.

Britain’s Ministry of Defense described the ceremonial welcome as “unprecedented.”

The delegation was then taken on a carriage ride around the grounds of the castle. Trump and Charles rode in the gilded Irish Stage Coach. It’s the coach that Queen Elizabeth II used to travel to the State Opening of Parliament. The queen and first lady followed behind in the Scottish State Coach, which was built in 1830.

After the ride around the castle grounds, they went to the Quadrangle at the Castle to inspect the British Army Guard of Honor. The group of royals and American visitors then went inside for a private lunch.

The unprecedented nature of the visit is that second-term presidents don’t usually get state visits. Instead, they are invited for lunch or tea with the monarch. Former presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush were treated to the usual protocol.

“This is really special. This has never happened before. Unprecedented,” said U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said at the White House in February. “I think that just symbolizes the strength of the relationship between us.”

British officials understand that Trump admires the royal family, so “if you have those assets, that opportunity, then why not absolutely make the most of it,” Matthew Doyle, a former communications director and adviser for Starmer, told CNN.

The president will travel on Thursday to Chequers, the prime minister’s country house in Buckinghamshire, where talks will begin. Agreements on “tech and trade” are expected to be discussed, Doyle said. Trump and Starmer will also meet with tech CEOs.

Doyle said Britain also wants to hear that Trump has a “plan to get Russia to the table,” adding that “Ukraine is clearly the biggest issue on the foreign agenda” for this meeting.

July 14 (UPI) — U.S. President Donald Trump‘s state visit to Britain will take place Sept. 17 through Sept. 19 at Windsor Castle where King Charles III will host him and First Lady Melania Trump, Buckingham Palace announced Monday.

Buckingham Palace said Trump had formerly accepted the invitation, six years on from his first state visit when he was the guest of the late Queen Elizabeth II in June 2019. The visit is unprecedented because Trump will become the first U.S. president to receive the honor twice — second-term presidents traditionally receive a tea or lunch invitation.

Itinerary details remain pending but will comprise a packed schedule of events — including a full ceremonial welcome and a state banquet in the castle’s Saint George’s Hall — with all senior members of the royal family involved, including Prince William and Kate, said the palace.

Trump and the first lady will spend two nights at Windsor Castle. The location was moved from the customary Buckingham Palace due to renovations that are underway at the king’s official residence.

Trump, who has hereditary roots in Scotland, is known to be a fan of Britain, and in particular the royal family and all the associated pomp and grand ceremonies.

British Ambassador to the United States Peter Mandelson said Trump could expect a warm welcome.

“He should expect a warm reception because he really does love Britain. He hugely admires it,” said Mandelson.

“He trusts [British Prime Minister] Keir Starmer. It’s not a question of expressing our gratitude. My lodestar here is to demonstrate respect, not sycophancy. I don’t think the administration has any problem with that.”

However, the timing sidesteps the issue of the traditional address given to parliament by visiting heads of state, as Trump will arrive a day after the legislature rises for the month-long ‘conference” recess, when political parties hold their annual conventions.

A group of 20 MPs signed a motion back in April calling on the speakers of both the House of Commons and the House of Lords not to allow Trump to officially address either chamber, saying his “misogynism, racism and xenophobia, comments on women, refugees and torture” made it inappropriate.

The motion noted “several concerns on his comments about the U.K., parliamentary democracy, the Middle East and equalities; expresses concern about his conduct around Ukraine; believes it would be inappropriate for President Trump to address Parliament.”

Of the lawmakers who backed the motion, 15 belong to Starmer’s ruling Labour Party.

The stance of parliamentarians contrasts with the optics surrounding French President Emmanuel Macron‘s state visit last week, during which he addressed a packed joint session of parliament and laid a wreath at the tomb of the unknown soldier in Westminster Abbey.

The king initially extended the royal invite to Trump in February in a letter that Starmer brought with him on a visit to Washington to meet with Trump in the White House, which the president accepted on the spot.

During his last visit in 2019, mass street protests forced the cancellation of a procession down the mall leading to Buckingham Palace for security reasons and he traveled between events by helicopter, instead of by road.

He also became embroiled in a social media spat with the mayor of London and appeared to breach royal protocol by walking ahead of the queen.

June 24 (UPI) — The international architecture firm Foster + Partners was announced as the winner of a multi-million-dollar competition to design a national memorial to the late Queen Elizabeth II in London.

Norman Foster‘s firm beat out five other finalists with its pitch for a new cast-glass bridge inspired by Elizabeth’s wedding tiara as part of a commemorative garden in St. James’ Park, with spaces for visitors for quiet reflection.

The proposals also feature a statue of Elizabeth on horseback and a cast of her and her husband of 73 years, Prince Philip, who died in 2021, at a new Prince Philip Gate.

“We showed them together and, in a way, there was this inseparable quality which we sought to convey,” Foster said.

“Our design reflects Her Majesty’s love of history and tradition, while introducing a gentle, unifying intervention that respects the park’s nature and legacy.”

Foster added that the concept also recalled the informality the queen was known for in her interactions with people.

He stressed that the project would have minimal impact on the nature and biodiversity of the park and that the work would be conducted in phases, allowing the public to continue enjoying the existing amenities.

The new memorial will be built close to the statues of Elizabeth’s mother and father, the Queen Mother and King George VI, and not far from the statue of Queen Victoria in front of Buckingham Palace.

“Foster + Partners’ ambitious and thoughtful masterplan will allow us and future generations to appreciate Queen Elizabeth’s life of service as she balanced continuity and change with strong values, common sense and optimism throughout her long reign,” said Lord Robin Janvrin, head of the Queen Elizabeth Memorial Committee Chair.

The project is expected to open to the public in April in what would have been Elizabeth’s hundredth year. She died in September 2022 at the age of 96.

Famous and iconic designs of Norman Foster around the world include the Reichstag building in Berlin, “The Gherkin” building in the City of London, the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank building on Hong Kong Island and the Hearst Building on Eighth Avenue in Manhattan.

May 30 (UPI) — Bernard Kerik, New York City’s police commissioner on Sept.11, 2001, died Thursday at the age of 69.

Kerik was hailed as a hero for his response to the terror attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, but fell from grace after pleading guilty to federal corruption charges and tax crimes in the years that followed.

F.B.I director Kash Patel said in a statement on social media Thursday night that Kerik had died “after a private battle with illness.”

“With over forty years of service in law enforcement and national security, he dedicated his life to protecting the American people,” Patel wrote.

Kerik rose to prominence as former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani‘s bodyguard during Giuliani’s 1993 mayoral campaign. He worked his way through the ranks of the police department as a street cop and narcotics officer in some of the city’s busiest and most heavily trafficked areas, including Times Square, before being promoted to corrections commissioner where he took on the abuse of sick time by fellow officers and worked to reduce violence among prison inmates.

Kerik’s rapid rise through the ranks prompted criticism among many, who were quick to point out that he did not have a college degree or the necessary experience to carry out the duties of a high-ranking bureaucrat in the nation’s largest and most closely scrutinized police department.

Officers at Kerik’s rank were typically required to have a college degree, which he did go on to earn in 2002.

Crime declined during his tenure as police commissioner, but his critics said that was a continuation of the success that had been achieved by two of his predecessors.

Despite heavy criticism and scrutiny, Kerik received several meritorious awards, including the title of Commander of the British Empire, bestowed on him by Queen Elizabeth II.

In 2009, however, Kerik pleaded guilty to eight charges ranging from tax evasion to theft of honest services, making him the first city police commissioner to become a felon. He was sentenced to 48 months in prison.

The New York City Police Department issued a statement Thursday night saying it was in “mourning” over Kerik’s passing.

“For nearly two decades, Kerik served and protected New Yorkers in the NYPD, including helping rebuild the city in the aftermath of 9/11,” the police force said on X.

“We offer our deepest condolences to his family and loved ones.”

Andrew Giuliani, son of Rudolph Giuliani and a member of the Trump administration’s White House, said in a statement Thursday that “New York lost one of our greatest crime fighters this evening.”

“Bernard Kerik set the standard, turning the most dangerous Correctional systems in the world into the gold standard,” he said on X, adding that as police commissioner on Sept. 11, “Bernie led from the front.”

“Personally, I will always remember Bernie through the eyes of my seven-year-old self, as one of the toughest cops a boy could imagine.

“Rest in peace my friend; you rock; you great warrior!”