On Saturday, the embattled Prince Andrew dropped the almost inevitable news he was giving up his royal titles, after his friendship with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein once again hit the headlines.
Andrew, the younger brother of King Charles III, said he had and his family made the decision because “the continued accusations about me distract from the work of His Majesty and the royal family".
It means he would no longer be able to use the title of Duke of York, one given to him by his mother, Queen Elizabeth II.
1News Europe Correspondent Kate Nicol-Williams showed Breakfast the posthumously published memoir from Prince Andrew's accuser. (Source: Breakfast)
It came five years after the Prince stepped back from public life over the scandal.
But he's not the first royal to lose his title, and there's a good chance he won't be the last.
Here's a look at other famous cases of royalty losing their titles in recent decades.
King Edward VIII
King Edward VIII, brother of King George VI and uncle of Queen Elizabeth II, spent just under a year on the throne after his father died in 1936.
He abdicated after it became clear that as King, he would not be able to marry Wallis Simpson, an American and divorcée – a union seen as unfathomable at the time.
"I have found it impossible to carry the heavy burden of responsibility and to discharge my duties as King as I would wish to do without the help and support of the woman I love," Edward announced on the radio following his abdication.
Following his abdication, his younger brother would become King George VI, who would become a symbol of British resilience in World War II. Edward's abdication also made way for Queen Elizabeth II, who became Britain's longest reigning monarch.
While losing the title of King, Edward and Simpson were given the titles Duke and Duchess of Windsor, however Simpson was not given the added Her Royal Highness (HRH).
The couple spent the rest of the lives living in France, with their situation making it near impossible to return to the royal fold – not helped by a 1937 visit to Nazi Germany, where they met and spent time with Adolf Hitler against government advice.
Nazi documents found after World War Two also allegedly revealed a plot to reinstate Edward as King should an invasion of Britain be successful.
Harry and Meghan
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex – more commonly know as Harry and Meghan – were, before Andrew, the most recent royals to lose their titles after Queen Elizabeth II decreed they must refrain from using their HRH titles.
In 2020, the couple decided to step back from their duties as senior royals, a move that continues to rock the UK – with Harry now distanced from his family, with reports suggesting a tense relationship.
The pair now live in California, where they are raising their two children, run charities, and work on various media projects.
Princess Diana
Harry's mother, the Princess of Wales, also had her HRH title removed, after her divorce from a then Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales, in 1996.
Diana retained her title as Princess of Wales, alongside other royal privileges, up until her tragic death in a car crash in 1997.
Prince Philip
In an odd quirk, Prince Philip, consort to Queen Elizabeth, lost all of his royal titles, but immediately gained new ones.
Born in Greece, Philip was once a prince of both Greece and Denmark. His family had been exiled from their homeland after Greece was defeated in a war with Türkiye.
In order to marry the then Princess Elizabeth, Philip had to to renounce his original titles. Immediately after he married, Philip became the Duke of Edinburgh and later was made a Prince of the United Kingdom by his wife – who had become Queen by then.
Other royals who gave up titles for love
A common reason for royals giving up or losing their titles is love.
In Japan, Princess Mako, the niece of Emperor Naruhito, and Princess Ayako, the daughter of a former emperor's cousin, both gave up their titles of "princess" so they could marry commoners.
In 2004, Prince Friso of the Netherlands was stripped of his Prince of the Netherlands title and was pulled from the line of succession after he planned to marry commoner Mabel Wisse Smit without the permission of parliament as required by the constitution.
In the 1970s, Prince Michael of Kent, the cousin of Queen Elizabeth was made to forfeit his place in the line of succession so he could marry Marie-Christine von Reibnitz, a Catholic.
His place was reinstated in 2015 however, after the British Government passed the Succession to the Crown Act 2013.
The morning's headlines in 90 seconds, including fire destroys homes near Kaikōura, wild weather set to intensify, and the memoir by Prince Andrew’s accuser is published. (Source: 1News)
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