The City of London Corporation passed a motion of censure – a formal expression of disapproval – against Andrew on Thursday after he failed to respond to its letter inviting him to relinquish his freedom of the city.
The City Corporation’s Court of Common Council said it considered his association with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein to be “wholly unacceptable and inconsistent” with the status and obligations of a Freeman of the City of London.
In its motion of censure, the court said there was “profound disappointment” Andrew has “not surrendered his Freedom despite being asked to do so”.
The City Corporation’s highest decision-making body said it lacks the power to remove Andrew’s Freedom as “his Freedom is not an honour or office but a property right protected under both domestic law and the European Convention on Human Rights”.
Andrew inherited the Freedom of the City of London in 2012 by virtue of patrimony, as the child of Prince Philip, the late Duke of Edinburgh, who was awarded the Freedom in 1948.
