London: When the late Queen Elizabeth II gave her favourite son the title Duke of York on his wedding day in 1986, she was entrusting him with a dukedom that was cherished by her more than any other.

Her beloved father and mother had been the duke and duchess of York before they became George VI and Queen Elizabeth. She herself was born Princess Elizabeth of York, and her grandfather, George V, had also held the ducal title.

It was the greatest of gifts and a compliment that Andrew and his wife, Sarah Ferguson, returned by demeaning and degrading the titles for nearly 40 years.

Then-prince Andrew and his bride Sarah Ferguson greet the crowd from their carriage as they leave Westminster Abbey in London on their wedding day in 1986.Credit: AP

Following the exposure of their lies about their friendship with paedophile Jeffrey Epstein and the ongoing furore, King Charles has decided the dukedom must be formally stripped before it can be sullied any further.

As for Ferguson, palace aides are clear the King will not carry responsibility for her going forward, and she is understood to be making her own arrangements amid the humiliating downfall of her ex-husband.

The couple is free to live together in the undisclosed property that Andrew will move into on the Sandringham estate, but London’s The Telegraph understands this is unlikely.

The fall of the House of York has been a long time coming, and Andrew Mountbatten Windsor and Sarah Ferguson, as they will henceforth be known, made equal contributions to its sorry end.

At first Fergie, as the tabloids loved to call her, appeared to have brought welcome energy to the royal family with her informality and humour. When she was filmed giving her husband a playful smack on the bottom in an engagement interview, it seemed that “Randy Andy”, the womanising Falklands War veteran, had met his match.

By 1990, they had two daughters, princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, making them a perfect family unit.

But beneath the surface, cracks in their relationship were starting to appear. Sarah privately complained that she was spending only 40 days each year with her husband because of his naval service, and rumours of an affair with Texan millionaire Steve Wyatt surfaced in early 1992 (she would later claim she and Andrew had an open........

© Brisbane Times