Virginia Giuffre’s family has welcomed Prince Andrew being stripped of his titles, declaring his latest humiliations a victory for the woman he allegedly abused when she was a teenager.

Buckingham Palace announced overnight that King Charles had stripped his younger brother of his title of prince and was also forcing him out of his home on the Windsor Estate.

The move came as Andrew, 65, faces mounting pressure for his behaviour and ties to late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Giuffre, who took her own life at her home in Western Australia six months ago, was trafficked by Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell in 2001. She had long claimed she was also abused by Epstein’s friend Andrew, with the allegations detailed in her bombshell memoir published posthumously earlier this month.

In a statement released on Friday, her brother Skye and sister-in-law Amanda said Giuffre never stopped fighting.

“Today, an ordinary American girl from an ordinary American family, brought down a British prince with her truth and extraordinary courage,” they said.

The pair said Giuffre was “a child” when she was allegedly sexually assaulted by Andrew, but “never stopped fighting for accountability for what had happened to her and to countless other survivors like her”.

“Today, she declares victory.

“We, her family, along with her survivor sisters, continue Virginia’s battle and will not rest until the same accountability applies to all of the abusers and abettors connected to Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.”

The family have spoken previously about their desire for justice for Virginia, with Amanda telling the BBC “the truth has a way of surfacing, and we have to believe that justice going to happen”.

“I think we are just on the precipice of seeing all of those skeletons come to the surface,” she said in an earlier interview.

Andrew was forced to give up his Duke of York title a fortnight ago, but the King’s latest actions mean the 65-year-old has now lost all his titles and will be known simply as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor.

In addition, Buckingham Palace said Andrew had been served formal notice to give up the lease on his 30-room Royal Lodge mansion on the Windsor Estate, west of London.

British newspapers have been questioning Andrew’s finances after The Times reported he had paid no rent on Royal Lodge for two decades, but had funded at least £7.5 million ($A15 million) of renovations completed in 2005. The British parliament’s Public Accounts Committee had also raised concerns over the arrangement.

Prince Andrew reportedly did not want to give up his luxury home.

In its statement, the palace said Andrew had been “served to surrender the lease” and would move to alternative private accommodation – believed to be a home on the King’s Sandringham estate

“These censures are deemed necessary, notwithstanding the fact that he continues to deny the allegations against him,” it 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.”

In her memoir, Nobody’s Girl, Giuffre alleged that when Epstein and Maxwell first introduced her to the prince, he correctly guessed her age at 17. She claimed that he seemed to think he was entitled to have sex with her, adding that after their first encounter Epstein gave her $US15,000 ($A23,000) for “servicing the man the tabloids called Randy Andy”.

She brought a civil suit against him in the US, which Andrew settled by paying an undisclosed sum – believed to be £12 million ($A24. 4 million) ­– while making no admission of liability.

Although Andrew claimed to have ended his friendship with paedophile financier Epstein in December 2010, recently published emails show they were still in contact months later.

A YouGov poll published on Thursday (local time) showed that 91 per cent of Britons have a negative opinion of Andrew, with the results coming just days after King Charles was heckled over the Epstein/Andrew scandal during a public event.

“Given his already low levels of popularity, there wasn’t much further for opinion on Prince Andrew to sink, but 91 per cent of Britons now say they have a negative opinion of the controversial royal, up from 87 per cent in August and the highest ever recorded by YouGov,” the research data group reported.

“This shift is even more acute when looking at those who see the former Duke of York very negatively, which has increased from 69 per cent to 81 per cent.”

However, it noted that there didn’t seem to be a knock-on effect to other members of the royal family, with the Prince and Princess of Wales remaining the most popular, and opinion of the King improving slightly.

The BBC’s royal correspondent said on Friday that Buckingham Palace would be hoping its latest actions would “finally draw a line under the endless oil slick of bad news stories about Andrew”.

“All that remains is his place in the line of succession, and new guidance from the House of Commons Library has shown that too could be removed by Parliament, if Commonwealth realms give their consent,” he reported.

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–with AAP