FOR a man who cherished being called His Royal Highness, the loss of Andrew Mountbatten Windsor’s royal title a year ago appeared to be his lowest point.
But next year could be far worse than the annus horribilis the has just experienced, according to two experts.
Over the past 12 months Andrew became a regular citizen, was thrown out of his home and faced the humiliation of being photographed cowering in the back of a car following his arrest on suspicion of misconduct in a public office.
Yet King Charles’ eldest brother might fall further from grace.
Not only is the 66-year-old former Duke of York under fire in the UK, the authorities on the other side of the Atlantic are pursuing him.
There is a determination in the US to get Andrew to answer all the questions law enforcement has about his relationship with the convicted sex offender .
If, as the pollsters predict, the Democrats win the midterm elections on Tuesday, they have vowed to hand unredacted Epstein files over to British detectives.
There are also fears that Andrew’s daughters and Eugenie are distancing themselves from the toxic ex-Duke.
Andrew Lownie, author of the best-selling book Entitled about Andrew, tells The Sun: “He’s out of Royal Lodge, a lot of the staff have gone, I think his family is fracturing.
“They’ve lost touch with him to a certain extent.
“The guy’s lost everything, he’s lost his family, his home, his reputation.
“But what’s also worrying for Andrew is that after one bad year, he’s going to get probably a worse year.
“There’s more material likely to come out, particularly after the midterms.”
As the late Queen Elizbeth II’s reported “favourite son”, Andrew held onto his royal privileges long after he was tainted by his association with seedy moneyman Epstein.
It was back in 2010 that the then-monarch’s third born was photographed strolling through Central Park in New York with convicted sex offender Epstein.
Andrew insisted he was there to tell his old friend that he could no longer see him.
On top of that Andrew made an estimated £12million out of court settlement in 2022 with , who alleged that Epstein had sex trafficked her to the then prince when she was aged just 17.
Andrew strongly denied the claims and maintained he did not know Virginia.
All attempts to hold onto his Royal titles crumbled last year when the Epstein files suggested Andrew had maintained a friendship with the disgraced financier long after his conviction in 2008 for soliciting a minor for prostitution.
King Charles’ office finally announced they were severing ties on October 30, 2025.
Buckingham Palace said: “His Majesty has today initiated a formal process to remove the Style, Titles and Honours of Prince Andrew.”
To add injury to insult Andrew was served notice to leave the Royal Lodge in Windsor.
The statement, though, did add: “These censures are deemed necessary, notwithstanding the fact that he continues to deny the allegations against him.”
Then, matters got worse.
In February this year Thames Valley police announced: “We are aware of reports about a woman said to have been taken to an address in Windsor in 2010 for sexual purposes.
“We are assessing the information in line with our established procedures.”
According to the alleged victim’s lawyers she was in her twenties at the time and went to Royal Lodge to meet Andrew. Andrew did not respond to requests for comment, but has always denied wrongdoing.
Another woman is said to have been given a tour of Buckingham Palace by the former Prince.
The Epstein files also revealed private jet logs, which showed Epstein had flown unidentified girls into the UK.
Former British prime minister Gordon Brown called on the Met Police to investigate the allegations.
Andrew was then arrested on the Sandringham estate in Norfolk in February in relation to a Thames Valley Police probe into misconduct in public office.
The Epstein files appeared to show that Andrew forwarded confidential government documents to Epstein in 2010 while serving at the UK’s Trade Envoy.
These could have given Epstein privileged information about lucrative investment opportunities.
Over the years, Epstein was remarkably generous towards Andrew and his former wife Sarah Ferguson in terms of his hospitality.
Andrew denies any wrongdoing and his the legitimacy of the warrant Thames Valley used to search his property in February.
Has the former globetrotting Trade Envoy truly faced the music, though?
It has been reported that he regularly has at his Marsh Farm lodging in Sandringham, goes shooting on the Royal estate and rides his horse.
His sister and brother Prince Edward are also loyal.
The ex-Duke has not been seen in public with Eugenie, 36, or Beatrice, 38, since losing his royal titles.
Eugenie gave birth to Adelaide Elizabeth Annina Brooksbank in August. It is not known if Andrew has met Adelaide yet.
Additionally, he is no longer so close to his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson who was removed from various charity roles this year after her friendship with Epstein was revealed.
There has been talk of Andrew moving to the United Arab Emirates, where he has powerful connections.
That comfortable lifestyle might be upended if the .
Nigel Cawthorne , author of Virginia Giuffre: Epstein’s Masseuse Who Took Down the Rich and Prince Andrew: Epstein, Maxwell and the Palace explains: “If the Democrats take over the oversight committee, Andrew could be in all sorts of trouble.
“They’ve promised to give the unredacted documents to the police here.
“It was the release of the Epstein files that led to the UK police finally investigating him, but only half have been released so far.”
A lot hinges on the midterm elections in the US.
President Donald Trump and the Republican party have been reluctant to release all of the files.
They still hold the balance of power on the House Oversight Committee which determines what is made public.
Three million of the six million pages remain under wraps.
The Democrats are pushing for full transparency, with Congressman Suhas Subramanyam willing to help get more documents into the hands of British detectives.
Nigel explains: “If the Democrats are in charge of the Oversight Committee and do what they say they’re going to do, then it’s going to push over the edge.
“The police have got to investigate.”
If that wasn’t enough for the former Prince to contend with, there is the issue of Royal lineage.
He is still eighth in line to the throne and MPs have expressed a desire to remove any chance of Andrew ending up with the Crown on his head.
The former Trade Envoy also has to deal with ex-Goldman Sachs banker who has asked to call Andrew as a witness in a civil fraud trial.
All those advisers in the Royal household who hoped that removing the HRH from Mountbatten Windsor’s name would end the slew of negative headlines are going to be disappointed.
Until his association with Epstein has been fully investigated the questions will keep on coming.
Remarkably, though, Andrew Lownie thinks that the disgraced ex-prince still believes he can return to the Royal fold.
He concludes: “I think he still thinks he can come back. This guy is very delusional. It comes from the sense of entitlement.”
