Prince Andrew surrenders his honor as Duke of York.
He is surrendering his honors, such as the the Duke, he has declared in a personal statement.
He has been under increasing attention over his links with sex offender Epstein, with calls for the royal household to take measures against him.
That now appears to have led to the figure deciding to of his own accord return his honors and to give up participation of the Order of the Garter.
In his message he said he continued to "strongly deny the claims against me".
"In talks with the monarch, and my immediate and extended family, we have decided the ongoing claims about me divert from the responsibilities of His Majesty and the Royal Family," said a statement from him.
"I have decided, as I always have, to put my responsibility to my kin and nation first.
"I uphold my resolution five years ago to step back from public life.
"With His Majesty's consent, we think I must now go a further step. I will therefore no longer hold my title or the awards which have been bestowed on me. As I have said before, I firmly refute the claims against me."
The royal has faced a number of issues, such as a lawsuit he settled with Virginia Giuffre, questions about his money matters and his association with an accused Chinese spy.
He will continue to be a royal - but will stop to be the the Duke, a title granted from his the late Queen, the late Queen Elizabeth.
Andrew had already ended to be a "working royal" and had given up the use of his HRH title and no longer appeared at official royal events. His status now will be even more lessened.
His previous partner will be known as Ferguson and no longer the Duchess, but their offspring will carry on to have the title of princess.
He has encountered severe attention over his connections with notorious figure the financier, more in recent times involving doubts about when he had actually ended communication.
In his BBC Newsnight interview, he had said that he had ended all links with the financier after they had been photographed together in New York in the end of 2010.
But emails sent in early 2011 later came to light suggesting that he had in private remained in communication with Epstein, including sending a communication: "Stay in contact and we'll meet again soon!"
There had been growing annoyance in Buckingham Palace at the scandals that remained to surround the royal.
Soon a posthumous memoir by the accuser will be published which is expected to bring more scrutiny on Prince Andrew's involvement with Virginia Giuffre and Jeffrey Epstein.
