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 Giuffre, 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: “With His Majesty’s agreement, we feel I must now go a step f

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