Canada’s Prince Andrew high school announces plan to change name

School attempt to distance itself from the growing controversy surrounding the Duke of York

A Canadian high school named after the Duke of York has announced plans to rename itself, in an attempt to distance itself from the growing controversy surrounding the Queen’s second son.

The principal of Prince Andrew high school in the province of Nova Scotia told families on Wednesday to expect the change as the school looks for a name that “upholds our values as a safe and inclusive” space.

“The name of a school should be reflective of our school community … Our hope is to continue to build our identity as a positive, supportive and respectful community, with a name to match,” principal Craig Campbell wrote in an email.

The high school of nearly 800 students was named in 1960 to commemorate the birth of Prince Andrew. While most students call the school “PA”, the recent accusations against the Duke of York mean the name is no longer tenable, the school said.

(January 1, 1999)

In the early 90s, Ghislaine Maxwell, the daughter of British media tycoon Robert Maxwell, met investment banker and financier Jeffrey Epstein. Their relationship was initially romantic, but it evolved into something more akin to Maxwell being a confidante and personal assistant.

Prince Andrew was reportedly introduced to Epstein through Maxwell in 1999, and Epstein reportedly visited the Queen’s private retreat in Aberdeenshire.

Some have suggested the introduction was made earlier. A 2011 letter to the Times of London from the prince’s then private secretary, Alastair Watson, suggests Andrew and Epstein knew each other from the early 90s.

(January 1, 2000)

Andrew, Maxwell and Epstein are seen together at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida. Later that year, Epstein and Maxwell attend a joint birthday party at Windsor Castle hosted by the Queen.

(January 1, 2001)

Andrew and Epstein holiday together and are pictured on a yacht in Phuket, Thailand, surrounded by topless women. The Times of London reported the prince’s holiday was paid for by Epstein.

In the same year, Virginia Giuffre, then 17, claims to have had sex with Andrew in Maxwell’s home in Belgravia, London. Giuffre, whose surname was Roberts at the time of the alleged incidents, says she slept with Andrew twice more, at Epstein’s New York home and at an “orgy” on his private island in the Caribbean.

(January 1, 2008)

Epstein is jailed for 18 months by a Florida state court after pleading guilty to prostituting minors.

(January 1, 2010)

Soon after his release, Epstein is visited by Andrew in New York. The pair are photographed together in Central Park. Footage emerges years later, reportedly shot on 6 December, that appears to show Andrew inside Epstein’s Manhattan mansion waving goodbye to a woman from behind a door.

(January 1, 2011)

Andrew quits his role as UK trade envoy following a furore over the Central Park photos.

(January 1, 2015)

Allegations that Andrew had sex with Giuffre emerge in court documents in Florida related to Epstein. The papers say she was forced to have sex with Andrew when she was 17, which is below the age of consent under Florida law. Buckingham Palace denies the allegations. The claims against Andrew are later struck from US civil court records following a federal judge’s ruling.

(January 1, 2019)

Andrew is accused of sexual impropriety by a second alleged Epstein victim, Johanna Sjoberg. She claims he touched her breast at the billionaire’s Manhattan apartment in 2001. Buckingham Palace says the allegations are "categorically untrue".

(August 10, 2019)

Epstein is found dead in his jail cell after being re-arrested and charged with sex trafficking. A medical examiner says the death was a suicide. A pilot on Epstein’s private jet later that month claims Andrew was a passenger on past flights with the financier and Giuffre.

(November 20, 2019)

Andrew takes part in a disastrous BBC TV interview during which he claims he could not have had sex with Giuffre because he was at home after a visit to Pizza Express in Woking, and that her description of his dancing with her beforehand could not be true because he was unable to sweat, and that he had "no recollection of ever meeting this lady". After several days of negative reaction, Andrew announces he is to step back from public duties "for the foreseeable future".

(January 27, 2020)

US prosecutor Geoffrey Berman gives a public statement suggesting there has been "zero cooperation" with the investigation from Andrew.

(June 8, 2020)

After Berman again claims Andrew has "completely shut the door" on cooperating with the US investigation in March, lawyers for the prince insist he has repeatedly offered to cooperate and accuse US prosecutors of misleading the public and breaching confidentiality.

(July 2, 2020)

Maxwell, who has seldom been seen in public in recent years, is arrested by the FBI on charges related to Epstein. Unsealed testimony from a 2015 civil case reveal a series of claims about her role in Epstein's sex-trafficking ring, including allegations that she trained underage girls as sex slaves.

(September 24, 2021)

US officials confirm that Prince Andrew has received court papers relating to a sexual assault civil lawsuit from Giuffre, seeking damages. Her lawyers had earlier said the duke had officially been served with the papers, but his legal team had disputed the claim. Two weeks later, a court in New York granted his lawyers permission to see the confidential settlement agreement between Giuffre and Epstein.

(October 11, 2021)

The Metropolitan police in London say they are taking no further action after a review of the allegations that Prince Andrew assaulted Giuffre. In August, the Met commissioner, Cressida Dick, had said “no one is above the law” and that she had asked her team to look at the material again.

(December 30, 2021)

Ghislaine Maxwell’s trial ends with a guilty verdict on five of the six counts she faced.

(January 12, 2022)

A judge in New York rejects Prince Andrew’s attempt to throw out the sexual abuse civil lawsuit brought against him by Giuffre. The prince's lawyers had attempted to argue that Giuffre’s 2009 settlement with Epstein shielded the duke from her taking legal action against him.

(January 13, 2022)

Queen Elizabeth II strips her son of a range of military affiliations and royal patronages after more than 150 military veterans write to describe their “upset and anger”.

Community members initially raised concerns over the name in 2019, but efforts to rename the school faced opposition from alumni and residents concerned over the loss of a historical connection.

Related: Prince Andrew loses military roles and use of HRH title

Andrew is facing a possible lawsuit in the United States amid accusations he assaulted Virginia Giuffre when she was a teenager. She alleges she was trafficked by the Duke’s friend, Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted sex offender, and was compelled to have sex with Andrew when she was 17. Andrew has repeatedly denied both the allegations and ever meeting Giuffre, despite a photograph of the two together.

Last week the Queen stripped her second son of his honorary military affiliations, leaving three Canadian regiments without a royal patron. His official Twitter account, TheDukeOfYork, no longer exists and his YouTube account is no longer accessible.

The Canadian high school’s decision to sever any association with Andrew comes more than two years after the SickKids Foundation in Toronto, the country’s largest children’s hospital, terminated Prince Andrew’s role as patron. Ontario’s Lakefield College school, which Andrew attended for a brief stint in his youth, ended the Duke’s term as honorary chairman of the school’s foundation board.

The school has formed a six-person committee, comprising students, staff and community members as it begins the search for a new name. A local paper suggested Black civil rights leaders, trailblazing politicians, a slain police officer or the Indigenous name for the region as possible contenders for the rebranded school.