After so many scandals, Prince Andrew has given up the use of his titles and honours.

He can no longer sign off as the Duke of York, or put "KG", a Knight of the Garter, after his name, with a flourish of medieval chivalry.

The Earl of Inverness and Baron Killyleagh are also scratched off his list of titles, with "Andrew Inverness" a name he'd sometimes used in his business dealings.

But what's caused this sudden announcement? Particularly as this dramatic move, removing the remaining vestiges of his royal life, comes with an assertion of his innocence and that he continued to "vigorously deny the accusations against me".

Prince Andrew has voluntarily given up the use of his titles - but he was clearly under pressure to jump before he was pushed.

This way, the changes in his status are kept in-house and there doesn't have to be the intervention of Parliament, which would have needed to legislate to take away his title as Duke of York.

That would have been messy, but the Palace was already sending signals it was prepared to take action, and it was confident that Parliament, and popular opinion, would have supported such a change.

Allowing Andrew to voluntarily give up his titles, which theoretically remain in place, gave him a way out, still holding on to a little of the disappearing vapour trail of his pride.

But it's no secret that Buckingham Palace was exasperated with the scandals surrounding Prince Andrew and what a royal source calls the "constant parade of headlines".

He was one of their "Dukes of Hazard" that kept making news for all the wrong reasons.

Questions about Andrew's links to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein were drowning out the work of the rest of the Royal Family. That was on top of unanswered questions about Andrew's finances and his connections to an alleged Chinese spy.

Next week will see a........

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