Following Prince Andrew being stripped of his military and royal titles, a Canadian high school named after him has also decided to go for a name change. The principal of Prince Andrew High School, Nova Scotia, announced this news to parents via email, saying that the school would be ditching the disgraced royal family member’s name. 

The message read, “The name of a school should be reflective of our school community and uphold our values as a safe and inclusive learning space for all. Our hope is to continue to build our identity as a positive, supportive and respectful community, with a name to match.” 

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The Dartmouth school was named after Prince Andrew soon after he was born, in 1960. Concerns first appeared in 2011, when Andrew was publicly accused by Virginia Giuffre of having sex with her while she was underage. It also brought to light the sordid association Andrew had with now-deceased paedophile Jeffrey Epstein and his currently-jailed socialite girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell. 

Committees were formed to debate a name change when Andrew was further relieved of his royal duties in 2019 and continued to try and justify his disastrous association with Epstein and Maxwell. 

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Though the principal’s current decision doesn’t mention Andrew’s sex scandal and the civil suit he faces in Manhattan as a result of it, it does come on the heels of the Buckingham Palace announcement that Andrew is now stripped of his military and royal titles, including ‘His Royal Highness’ or HRH. The move, which was reportedly executed by the Queen herself, ensures that Andrew will be fighting the charges against him as a private citizen, and not a member of the British royal family. 

Even before the email circulated by the principal, many began calling the school PA High, to remove any association with the sullied name, and at the same time, they’d started calling for a change. 

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Belinda Oxner, the chair of the school advisory council, expressed her clear opinion back in 2019, when she said, “As a mother of three daughters, I find it very difficult to have that name on a building where our children are supposed to feel safe and with the allegations and the associations now with the Prince Andrew name”. 

A new name will be selected for the school in time for the new school year, which begins in September.