The historic title of Duke of York, which has been a prestigious designation within the British monarchy since it was first established in 1385 for the king’s second son, has been tarnished and may soon become obsolete.

Traditionally reserved for royal lineage, this title was once a potential inheritance for seven-year-old Prince Louis, following the passing of Prince Andrew. However, due to recent controversies, the title now risks being shelved indefinitely, joining other royal titles that have been tainted by their holders’ actions over the years.

Prince Andrew is not the first to cast a shadow over a royal peerage, but in an era where the public is increasingly scrutinizing the privileges of royalty, his actions have left a particularly deep mark.

Currently, the “York” name persists through Andrew’s daughters, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie of York. Yet, as the monarchy evolves, especially with Prince William’s future ascension to the throne, it’s uncertain whether they will retain these titles.

The York moniker will live on – for the time being – in Andrew’s daughters, who style themselves Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie of York.

But there’s no guarantee they will cling to those titles in future years when Prince William becomes king. 

Their behaviour will now come under the same public scrutiny their father endured for the past decade – and any attempt by them to capitalise on their royal titles is unlikely to be tolerated in the future by the hard-line Prince of Wales.

So what of the future of the Dukedom of York, most recently (and decently) held by Queen Elizabeth II’s father Bertie?

While Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor is not alone in having brought disgrace on a royal peerage – but in an age where the trappings of royalty have come under an increasing spotlight, the damage he’s wreaked is far worse

Bertie added the dukedom to his list of subsidiary names when he became King George VI in 1936, and the title died with him in 1952 – it wasn’t resurrected until Andrew married Fergie in 1986, when the Queen bestowed the honour on him.

And it WAS an honour – not just any old royal title.

The second Duke of York, a valiant warrior, was killed at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415. Richard of Shrewsbury, one of the tragic Princes in the Tower, held the title until he was murdered on the orders of his scheming uncle, King Richard III.

The mighty King Henry VIII was labelled the Duke of York until his elder brother died and he stepped up to the throne in 1509. Charles Stuart, second son of King James I,  was Duke of York before ascending the throne as King Charles I.

These are great names in British history who wore the title well, unlike its most recent holder.

King George III’s second son served as Commander-in-Chief of the British Army for many years, and though he’s satirised in the nursery rhyme as the ‘Grand Old Duke of York’ he was actually a distinguished soldier who served his country well.

King George V – King Charles’s great-great-grandfather and the man who reshaped the British royal family into the House of Windsor in 1917 – was the second son of King Edward VII, and known as the Duke of York until his older brother Albert Victor, the future king, died at the age of 28, and he became Prince of Wales.

All these Dukes of York distinguished themselves and left the title unblemished for future generations.

The York moniker will live on – for the time being – in Andrew’s daughters, who style themselves Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie of York. But there’s no guarantee they will cling to those titles in future years when Prince William becomes King

In time, the youngest son of William and Catherine, Prince Louis (not pictured) might have inherited it on Andrew’s demise. But now the disgraced peerage will be stuck in a drawer, along with other royal dukedoms that have been sullied by their holder over the centuries

But now it will likely disappear, along with other such disgraced royal titles, as the Duke of Albany, Duke of Cumberland and Duke of Albany.

The last Duke of Albany ended up a notorious Nazi obergruppenführer, despite being born in England and educated at Eton. Plucked from his family at the age of 15, Charles Edward was sent to Germany to inherit the dukedom of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, a part of the British royal family’s fiefdom by reason of their German cousinage.

Once there he was placed under the wing of Kaiser Wilhelm II and effectively brainwashed so that – on the outbreak of World War 1 – though he wanted to return to Britain and serve his country in his regiment, the Seaforth Highlanders, he ended up in a German uniform.

By the start of the Second World War he’d already been a supporter of violent far-right paramilitary groups in Germany and was a member of the Nazi Party. Understandably he was stripped of his Duke of Albany title in 1917 and died in 1954 in Germany.

Prince William, Duke of Cumberland, was known as “Butcher” Cumberland after his bloody massacre of supporters of Bonnie Prince Charles in the Jacobite Rising of 1745. The Jacobites wanted the throne returned to the Stuart dynasty, but by now Britain was ruled by German-born King George II.

His favoured son William, now Commander in Chief of royalist forces, faced the Jacobites at Culloden, killing 1,300. The total number of deaths soared in the aftermath, as wounded and fleeing Jacobites were hunted down and killed in the days and weeks following the battle

“His instructions were to effectively wipe out and destroy any semblance of life in the Highlands, in what could be described as a genocide of sorts, played out by Royal soldiers setting alight to homes, murdering, imprisoning and raping as they meticulously carried out their instructions,” writes the historian Jessica Brain.

“This methodical approach to finish the Jacobite cause even extended to the economy, making sure to round up the 20,000 cattle which sustained the community and moving them south.

Andrew was formally stripped of his prince title yesterday after King Charles made the announcement last evening 

The disgraced 65-year-old will now formally be known as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor

The Duke of York title will disappear, along with other such disgraced royal titles, as the Duke of Albany, Duke of Cumberland and Duke of Albany. Andrew is seen here with his daughters, Beatrice and Eugenie, who are both believed to not be in the UK at this time

‘These clinical tactics made sure that the Highland community was effectively crushed physically, economically and spiritually.’

So, Cumberland is one royal dukedom which won’t be brought out again in the near future.

And then there was the mincing reprobate, Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence. Hauling that dukedom out of the locker was a risky business by his grandmother Queen Victoria – an earlier duke of Clarence goes down in history as having ‘drowned in a vat of Malmsey’(sherry) – his gruesome end in the Tower of London in 1478.

Albert Victor was known to swing both ways, and though in love with his royal cousin Princess Mary of Teck, was named by foreign newspapers as having been a participant in the 1889 Cleveland Street scandal, where under-age Post Office telegraph boys were pimped out to rich and powerful paedophiles.

If that sounds vaguely familiar, it goes some way to understanding how the former Prince Andrew has wiped the grand title he bore for almost 40 years from the royal family’s roll of honour.

Disgrace of this kind can never be forgiven, or forgotten, by history.