London's Metropolitan Police Service, known as the Met, has said it is "actively" looking into media reports that Prince Andrew, brother of King Charles, tried to obtain personal information about a woman who made sexual allegations against him and later took her own life.

The prince was a long-term friend and associate of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who died in his prison cell in 2019. A woman called Virginia Giuffre claimed she was sexually exploited by Epstein and his friends, and forced to have sex with the prince three times, once when she was just 17 years old. He has repeatedly denied the allegations, although a photograph of them together has been widely published, and he did come to an out-of-court financial settlement with her in 2022.

Earlier this year, Giuffre took her own life, but in a posthumous memoir entitled Nobody's Girl, she repeated the allegation, writing "He was friendly enough, but still entitled — as if he believed having sex with me was his birthright."

With the allegations showing no sign of going away, on Friday the prince issued a statement saying that "in discussion with the King, and my immediate and wider family, we have concluded the continued accusations about me distract from the work of His Majesty and the Royal Family".

The prince, a former helicopter pilot who saw active military service in the Royal Navy, withdrew from public life several years ago, but his statement said that, after speaking to the king, "we feel I must now go a step further. I will therefore no longer use my title or the honors which have been conferred upon me. As I have said previously, I vigorously deny the accusations against me".

The Mail on Sunday newspaper reports that he asked members of the Met's Royal Protection Squad to "dig up" information about Giuffre, allegedly emailing one officer "It would also seem she has a criminal record in the (United) States… I have given her (date of birth) and social security number for investigation with — name deleted — the on-duty (personal protection officer)". There is no suggestion that this request was acted upon.

Giuffre's family has denied that she had a criminal record, and her brother has called on the king to strip his brother of his prince title altogether. It has also been reported that Prince William, the king's eldest son and his heir, has been involved in discussions about his uncle's position, and wants him banned from future royal events including his eventual coronation.

Last month, several charities removed the prince's former wife, Sarah Ferguson, as a patron following the publication of an email from 2011 in which she "humbly apologized" to Epstein for having publicly distanced herself from him, saying that he had "always been a steadfast, generous and supreme friend to me and my family".