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The royal is relinquishing his titles, including the Duke of York, he has declared in a own words.

He has been under increasing pressure over his connections with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, with requests for the Palace to take steps against him.

That now seems to have caused the royal deciding to voluntarily return his designations and to give up participation of the Order of the Garter.

In his statement he said he continued to "firmly dispute the accusations against me".

"In talks with the monarch, and my immediate and wider family, we have agreed the ongoing allegations about me take away from the responsibilities of the monarch and the Royal Family," said a statement from him.

"I have chosen, as I always have, to put my responsibility to my kin and nation first.

"I uphold my decision five years ago to step back from royal engagements.

"With His Majesty's consent, we feel I must now go a further step. I will therefore no longer employ my honor or the distinctions which have been bestowed on me. As I have said previously, I firmly dispute the accusations against me."

Prince Andrew has faced a range of issues, including a court case he resolved with the plaintiff, questions about his money matters and his association with an accused Chinese spy.

He will continue to be a prince - but will discontinue to be the Duke of York, a title received from his parent, the former monarch.

Andrew had already ended to be a "working royal" and had given up the use of his HRH title and no longer participated at official royal events. His role now will be even more lessened.

His former spouse will be known as Ferguson and no longer Duchess of York, but their children will persist to have the title of princess.

He has been under strong attention over his links with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, more recently featuring inquiries about when he had actually severed communication.

In his media discussion, he had said that he had cut off all links with Jeffrey Epstein after they had been pictured together in NYC in the end of 2010.

But emails sent in early 2011 later emerged indicating that the prince had privately remained in contact with the financier, including swapping a note: "Stay in contact and we'll have further interactions soon!"

There had been mounting annoyance in the monarchy at the issues that remained to envelop the royal.

Soon a late publication by the accuser will be published which is anticipated to bring additional scrutiny on his connection with Virginia Giuffre and Epstein.