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Prince Andrew is surrendering his honors, including the the Duke, he has stated in a individual message.

He has been under growing scrutiny over his connections with sex offender Epstein, with demands for the royal household to take measures against him.

That now looks to have led to the figure deciding to willingly return his designations and to surrender participation of the Garter Order.

In his statement he said he continued to "strongly deny the accusations against me".

"In talks with the sovereign, and my immediate and wider family, we have concluded the ongoing allegations about me divert from the work of His Majesty and the Royal Family," said a statement from Prince Andrew.

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

"I uphold my decision five years ago to withdraw from official duties.

"With His Majesty's agreement, we feel I must now go a further step. I will therefore no longer employ my designation or the awards which have been bestowed on me. As I have said previously, I strongly refute the allegations against me."

Prince Andrew has been involved in a range of controversies, among them a lawsuit he ended with an accuser, questions about his money matters and his involvement with an suspected intelligence operative.

He will remain a royal - but will stop to be the York's Duke, a designation received from his parent, the Queen Elizabeth II.

He had already ceased to be a "participating figure" and had forfeited the use of his His Royal Highness designation and no longer appeared at official royal events. His position now will be even more diminished.

His former spouse will be known as Sarah Ferguson and no longer Duchess of York, but their offspring will carry on to have the designation of princess.

He has encountered severe examination over his links with disgraced financier the financier, more lately featuring doubts about when he had actually ended contact.

In his television appearance, the royal had said that he had cut off all links with Epstein after they had been photographed together in New York in December 2010.

But emails sent in February 2011 later surfaced implying that the prince had privately remained in touch with him, for example exchanging a message: "Remain connected and we'll meet again soon!"

There had been increasing frustration in the monarchy at the scandals that persisted to plague the prince.

In the coming days a posthumous memoir by Giuffre will be published which is expected to bring additional scrutiny on Prince Andrew's connection with Virginia Giuffre and Jeffrey Epstein.