Even as he grudgingly surrendered his dukedom last week amid a ceaseless onslaught of allegations about his sexual and financial affairs, Prince Andrew managed to remain graceless and obnoxious.

"I’ve decided, as I always have, to put my duty to my family and country first,” said the man who’s rarely appeared to put anyone else ahead of his own wants and needs. His latest reluctant retreat from the limelight came after claims that he’d dissembled about the duration of his friendship with the now deceased pedophile Jeffrey Epstein — and as a book by alleged victim Virginia Giuffre is posthumously published detailing the abuse she claimed to have suffered from both men.

The prince has insisted he had no memory of meeting Giuffre, despite paying her a reported £12 million ($16 million) three years ago to stop her civil claim against him. Police are investigating an email he allegedly sent in 2011 describing how he instructed his taxpayer-funded security detail to dig up dirt on her. Andrew has always vigorously denied all the accusations against him.