Donald Trump has expressed sympathy for the royal family amid the ongoing controversy surrounding Andrew Mountbatten Windsor’s ties to the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

During a conversation with journalists aboard Air Force One on Sunday evening, Trump was questioned about the King’s recent decision to remove his brother’s royal titles and peerages.

“It’s a terrible situation for the royal family,” Trump remarked. “It’s a tragedy. I feel badly for the family.”

The announcement last week confirmed that Andrew will relinquish his status as a prince and will vacate his residence at Royal Lodge.

In a surprising statement issued by Buckingham Palace on Thursday night, it was revealed that he will now be referred to as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor.

It comes as the palace said the ‘censures are deemed necessary’ amid the ongoing  scandal over Jeffrey Epstein, whom Andrew lied about cutting ties with. 

Earlier on Sunday, Defence Secretary John Healey confirmed Andrew will be stripped of his honorary rank of vice-admiral, which he was awarded on his 55th birthday in 2015.

The rank is his last remaining honorary military title since he handed back the others in 2022 over the Epstein scandal.

President Donald Trump said he feels ‘badly’ for the royal family amid the continuing fallout over Andrew Mountbatten Windsor’s connections with pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein 

Andrew has always continued to deny any wrongdoing 

The Defence Secretary would not comment on whether Andrew would be able to keep his medals, including the campaign medal he received for his service in the Falklands War, but said the Ministry of Defence would be ‘guided by the decisions the King makes’.

Ministry of Defence sources said they were examining whether Andrew would revert to the rank of commander, which he achieved during his active military service, or if he would lose his naval rank completely.

Andrew’s Duke of York title has already been removed from the Roll of Peerages.

Andrew has been associated with the Royal Navy since 1979, when he began officer training at Britannia Royal Naval College in Dartmouth.

He subsequently served as a helicopter pilot and was part of the task force deployed to retake the Falklands following the Argentinian invasion in 1982.

He ended his active naval career in 2001 with the rank of commander, but later received honorary promotions including to vice-admiral in 2015.

The former prince denies sexually assaulting the late Virginia Giuffre, who alleged this happened on three occasions, including when she was 17, after being trafficked by Epstein.

Trump also had connections with Epstein, which British political campaign group Led By Donkeys examined in a film projected on to Windsor Castle ahead of his state visit in September.

In a bombshell statement released on Thursday night, Buckingham Palace said he will now be known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor

It was announced that Andrew will no longer be known as a prince and is to leave Royal Lodge  

The nine-minute film went over the history of Trump’s links to the convicted sex offender, including the release by US legislators of documents said to include a letter from Trump to Epstein to celebrate his 50th birthday.

The film was projected from a hotel room with a direct view over the castle as an act of ‘peaceful protest,’ a spokesman for the campaign group said in September.

Four men arrested over the incident were released without charge.

Meanwhile, pressure is building on Andrew to give evidence before a powerful US Congressional committee.

Members of the House Oversight Committee have called for the former prince to reveal what he knew about the actions of Epstein.

Andrew’s recent departure from the Royal Lodge, where he paid ‘peppercorn rent’ over 20 years’, comes amid an ongoing row over the residence since his dukedom title was stripped last month.

It is understood Andrew has been served notice to surrender the lease at the 30-bedroom mansion and will move out of the residence as soon as practically possible. 

The younger brother of the King will be moved to a property on the Sandringham estate in Norfolk although the specifics regarding the relocation are still unknown. 

The move was said to have been entirely down to the King and his advisers, without pressure from the government. The monarch is pictured in Australia earlier this month

It is understood Sarah Ferguson, seen with Andrew at Royal Ascot in 2019, will make her own living arrangements

Andrew’s ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, will make her own living arrangements after moving out of the royal grounds of Windsor Castle.

The move was entirely down to the King and his advisers, without pressure from the government or other family members, such as Prince William, sources told the Daily Mail. 

‘The process has been under way for some while but there was a need to get it right in the face of some very big challenges,’ an insider said. 

Notice was not served on Prince Andrew to move. It was his lease, so it was up to the former Duke of York to serve notice himself, suggesting that he is not fighting the process.

It comes as His Majesty had made it clear he would not hesitate to take ‘further action’ if his younger brother continued to cling on to his dukedom and other honours after he lied about cutting ties with pedophile financier Epstein, the Daily Mail previously revealed.

And despite the tsunami of growing evidence mounting against him, the 65-year-old was understood to still be ‘digging his heels in’ with a ‘startling lack of contrition’, in a situation the King deemed ‘intolerable’, sources previously said.

Last month, the row over the Royal Lodge continued to grow amid damning revelations in a posthumous memoir from Andrew’s sex abuse accuser Virginia Giuffre, who took her own life this year, aged 41.

Andrew pictured with Jeffrey Epstein in New York’s Central Park in 2011

Andrew, Virginia Giuffre and sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell in a photo reportedly taken in 2001, when Giuffre was 17 years old

Anti–monarchy group Republic says it intends to investigate allegations that the former Duke of York sexually assaulted Giuffre (pictured)

Nobody’s Girl: A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice was released in this month, with the manuscript having been completed before she died.

The explosive book revolves around her years spent as a sex slave to Epstein and his British madam Ghislaine Maxwell.

Extracts published by The Guardian show Ms Giuffre, who said she was trafficked by Epstein three times for sex with Andrew, called the ex-duke ‘entitled’ and viewing sex as his ‘birthright’.

Within the 400-page autobiography, she also alleged the ex-duke said ‘thank you’ in a ‘clipped British accent’ after their alleged first encounter when she was 17.

She also recalled how Ghislaine Maxwell praised her following the encounter, saying, ‘You did well, the prince had fun’.

Andrew denied having sex with Ms Giuffre, but forked out millions in an out of court settlement in February 2022.

The Royal Family had been prepared for the further scandal the book would likely cause, knowing it was to be published this month.

In the wake of the Giuffre scandal, Andrew is facing a private prosecution over allegations of sexual assault, corruption and misconduct in public office.

Last week, anti–monarchy campaign group Republic said it has instructed lawyers to investigate the prince and, if appropriate, press ahead with legal proceedings.

The Daily Mail understands the allegations it is focusing on relate to allegations he sexually assaulted Giuffre, that he asked a royal protection officer to look into her background and impropriety when he served as an official UK trade envoy.