07 November 2025
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Professor Graham Zellick KC argues in NLJ this week that, despite Buckingham Palace’s statement stripping Andrew Mountbatten Windsor of his styles, titles and honours, he remains legally a duke
The removal of his name from the Roll of the Peerage, Zellick explains, does not extinguish the peerage itself, which can only be removed by Act of Parliament. While the King was within his prerogative to revoke royal titles and knighthoods, the dukedom—being a hereditary honour—is untouched.
Zellick contends that past case law, rooted in the Duke’s former membership of the Lords, may not bind current practice and that what is granted under the prerogative can be undone likewise. Still, he calls for clarity: Andrew’s formal status may persist, but public recognition will not.
The King’s bold action, he concludes, is symbolically potent if legally imprecise.
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