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Prince Andrew is giving up his honors, such as the York's Duke, he has announced in a individual message.

He has been under mounting pressure over his links with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, with demands for the monarchy to take action against him.

That now appears to have resulted in the royal deciding to willingly give up his honors and to give up membership of the Garter Order.

In his message he said he continued to "firmly deny the accusations against me".

"In consultation with the monarch, and my direct and extended family, we have decided the persistent accusations about me divert from the work of His Majesty and the royal household," said a statement from the royal.

"I have opted, as I always have, to put my duty to my kin and nation first.

"I uphold my decision five years ago to step back from public life.

"With the monarch's agreement, we believe I must now go a step further. I will therefore no longer hold my honor or the awards which have been bestowed on me. As I have said earlier, I strongly dispute the accusations against me."

The royal has been involved in a range of scandals, among them a legal case he settled with the plaintiff, doubts about his finances and his involvement with an suspected foreign agent.

He will stay a prince - but will stop to be the the Duke, a designation bestowed from his mother, the former monarch.

The prince had already ceased to be a "active member" and had given up the use of his royal style and no longer was seen at public engagements. His status now will be even more reduced.

His ex-wife will be known as Sarah Ferguson and no longer York's Duchess, but their daughters will persist to have the designation of princess.

The royal has faced severe attention over his associations with convicted sex offender Epstein, more lately including doubts about when he had actually severed contact.

In his media discussion, he had said that he had severed all links with the financier after they had been photographed together in NYC in the end of 2010.

But messages sent in February 2011 later emerged implying that Andrew had privately remained in communication with the financier, including sending a note: "Stay in contact and we'll have further interactions soon!"

There had been mounting displeasure in the monarchy at the scandals that persisted to plague the prince.

In the coming days a posthumous memoir by Virginia Giuffre will be released which is anticipated to draw additional attention on Prince Andrew's connection with Virginia Giuffre and the financier.