King Charles strips brother Andrew of titles and his mansion

LONDON (Reuters) -Britain's King Charles has stripped his younger brother Andrew of his title of prince and forced him out of his home by Windsor Castle, Buckingham Palace said on Thursday, punishing him over his ties to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Andrew, 65, the younger brother of Charles and second son of the late Queen Elizabeth, has come under mounting pressure over his behaviour and ties to Epstein and earlier this month he was forced to stop using his title of Duke of York.

Charles has now escalated his actions against Andrew by stripping him of his titles, leaving him to be known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor.

The Buckingham Palace statement said a formal notice had now also been served on Andrew to surrender the lease of his Royal Lodge mansion on the Windsor Estate, west of London, and he will move to alternative private accommodation in eastern England.

PALACE SAYS THOUGHTS ARE WITH VICTIMS OF ABUSE

"These censures are deemed necessary, notwithstanding the fact that he continues to deny the allegations against him," the palace said. "Their Majesties wish to make clear that their thoughts and utmost sympathies have been, and will remain with, the victims and survivors of any and all forms of abuse."

A palace source said that while Andrew continued to deny the accusations against him, it was clear that there had been serious lapses of judgement. The source said the decision was taken by Charles but that the monarch had the support of the wider family, including heir-to-the-throne Prince William.

In recent weeks British newspapers have turned their focus on Andrew's finances after the Times reported that he had not paid rent on his 30-room mansion for two decades, but had funded at least 7.5 million pounds ($10.07 million) of renovations when he moved in.

In a rare political intervention, a British parliamentary committee had on Wednesday questioned whether Andrew should still be living in the house.

($1 = 0.7451 pounds)

(Reporting by Catarina Demony and Michael Holden; editing by Kate Holton)