Prince Andrew will no longer use his royal titles, Buckingham Palace confirmed Friday, three years after he was ousted as a senior royal following allegations over his connections to convicted American sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Though the former Duke of York continues to deny collaborating with the disgraced sex offender, he said he agrees the controversy surrounding him has posed a distraction for the royal family.

"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. 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," Andrew said in an Oct. 17 statement shared by Buckingham Palace.

He added that with King Charles III'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."

Andrew's late mother, Queen Elizabeth II, stripped him of his patronages and military associations in 2022, making him a royal persona non grata. The decision occurred after the settlement of sex abuse lawsuit filed against him by Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who died by suicide in Australia earlier this year.

Since then, he has only made public appearances at family events, including his parents' funerals and, most recently, the funeral of Britain's Duchess of Kent, Katharine, last month.

What are the accusations against Prince Andrew?

The second son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip found his royal relationship tarnished after Giuffre alleged that Andrew sex trafficked her as a teenager. In 2015, she said Epstein forced her to have sex with Andrew three times around 2001.

In a 2019 BBC interview, she said Epstein introduced her to Andrew and then-girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell at a London nightclub, where Giuffre was later forced to have sex with the royal at Maxwell's home. Giuffre alleged she was later sexually abused by Andrew a second time at Epstein's New York mansion and then a third time at his private island in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

In February 2022, the sex abuse lawsuit was settled for an undisclosed total and a "substantial donation" to Giuffre's charity.

That same year, Andrew told the outlet he had "no recollection of ever meeting this lady, none whatsoever."

Giuffre's upcoming posthumous memoir, "Nobody's Girl: A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice," out on Oct. 21, recounts her traumatic experiences being recruited into Epstein and Maxwell's sex trafficking ring as well as her journey bringing the abuse to light.

In a posthumous memoir, Virginia Giuffre recounts the moments she first crossed paths with Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell writing, “From the start, they manipulated me into participating in behaviors that ate away at me.”

What was Andrew's relationship to Epstein?

Andrew and Epstein's friendship spans decades, dating back to the 1990s, according to British media reports.

Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence after her 2021 conviction for trafficking a minor to engage in sex acts with Epstein, allegedly introduced the two when she was Epstein's girlfriend and employee at the time, The Guardian reported.

As the accusations came to light, Andrew has expressed regret for his former friendship with Epstein.

"Prince Andrew regrets his association with Epstein, and commends the bravery of Ms. Giuffre and other survivors in standing up for themselves and others," one of the 2022 documents filed in federal court in New York read. "He pledges to demonstrate his regret for his association with Epstein by supporting the fight against the evils of sex trafficking, and by supporting its victims."

Contributing: Maria Puente, USA TODAY

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Prince Andrew royal titles stripped after alleged Jeffrey Epstein link

Reporting by Anthony Robledo, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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