The City of London Corporation has approved a lawful process to strip Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor of his Freedom of the City of London, after he refused a request to relinquish the honour voluntarily. The move follows months of pressure over his association with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, which the Corporation has repeatedly called "wholly unacceptable and inconsistent" with the status of a Freeman, and mirrors action already taken by the King and various military and civil bodies to remove Andrew's titles and roles.

Andrew inherited the honour in 2012 through his father, Prince Philip, who was made a Freeman in 1948; in May the Corporation's Court of Common Council formally censured him for failing to surrender it despite being asked. A legal review found no existing lawful mechanism to remove the title, prompting the Corporation to approve a new process under which the individual concerned is informed and allowed to make written representations before a final decision. Officials, including policy chairman Chris Hayward, say the case will now proceed "as a matter of urgency", with a decision expected to return to the Court of Common Council in December.