England, Northern Ireland, Australia residents want former prince Andrew roads renamed

Residents in England, Northern Ireland and Australia have called for a name change of their streets that are named after former prince Andrew after he was stripped of his titles amid controversy over his links to late US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

In the English town of Maidenhead, some residents have been calling for Prince Andrew Road and the adjoining Prince Andrew Close to be renamed.

The Guardian reported that both streets were named after Queen Elizabeth II’s third child when he was born in 1960.

Resident Tom Kirk said his address is now an “embarrassing association”.

“Whenever you speak with someone, if you’re ordering something or tell someone where you live, there’s always raised eyebrows,” he told local weekly newspaper Maidenhead Advertiser.

“There’s the ethical standpoint with the association. This road name is now linked to controversy, given the severity of the allegations.”

The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead said that any formal application would be assessed in line with its procedures, reported the BBC.

According to local authority rules, all property owners on the two roads must agree for a name change.

In Hellesdon village in Norfolk, councillor Shelagh Gurney told the BBC that residents also wanted the name of their street – Prince Andrew’s Road – stripped.

However, she noted that the road was named after the late Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark, and not the disgraced former prince.

In Northern Ireland, local councillor Aaron Skinner said he had a lot of people asking for a change of name for Prince Andrew Way in the town of Carrickfergus, 18km from Belfast.

“We think it’s important we keep our royal heritage and are proposing renaming it after Queen Elizabeth,” BBC News Northern Ireland reported him as saying.

In the northern suburb of Lalor in Melbourne, Australia, Prince Andrew Avenue has been part of the neighbourhood for decades, but Whittlesea council said it had received inquiries from locals asking if the street can be renamed.

“It’s really upsetting to have someone’s who’s a predator be the name of your street,” an unnamed resident told 7News Australia.

Whittlesea Council said it has sought advice from Geographic Names Victoria (GNV), the authority responsible for overseeing the naming of streets and roads in the state of Victoria.

GNV said it will give its full support to the council if it decides to proceed with the name change application.

King Charles last week

stripped his younger brother of his title of prince

and evicted him from his long-term residence on the Windsor estate in a bid to prevent further damage to the royal family’s reputation over Andrew’s ties to Epstein.

The former prince is now known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor.

The announcement followed a torrent of outrage at renewed accusations of sexual assault made by one of Epstein’s main accusers against the 65-year-old, who has denied the charges.

It comes days after the posthumous publication of

Ms Virginia Giuffre’s memoir

, in which the victim of US sex offender Epstein reiterated in shocking detail allegations that she was trafficked to have sex with Andrew three times, including twice when she was only 17.

Ms Giuffre took her own life in April, aged 41, while Epstein died by suicide in 2019 when he was in prison awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges.