Prince Andrew steps down from Pitch@Palace role
Prince Andrew has stepped down from his role at tech startup scheme Pitch@Palace.
The initiative, which the Duke of York founded to showcase entrepreneurs, is set to continue without any royal involvement.
Read more: Prince Andrew cancels Middle East trip for Pitch@Palace
The Duke has come under increasing pressure as the catastrophic fallout of his Newsnight grilling over links to the late billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein continues.
The Duke announced earlier this week that he would step back from royal duties, and it emerged on Friday that he was stepping down from the organisation.
Buckingham Palace denied the Duke had quit the scheme, but Morning Wire understands that this is incorrect and he has in fact left Pitch@Palace.
A source close to the discussions told Morning Wire the Duke had decided to “back away” from Pitch@Palace and was “no longer involved” with the scheme.
The Duke’s departure was first reported by Tech Crunch.
Earlier in the day it had emerged Prince Andrew had been forced to cancel a trip to Bahrain to promote the initiative, reportedly after coming under pressure from the royals to postpone the visit.
Major sponsors including Standard Chartered, KPMG, Bosch and Inmarsat have already abandoned the scheme, as well as Advertising Week Europe and Gravity Road.
It is understood that Pitch@Palace, a mentoring programme which pairs investors with startups, will now be rebranded simply as Pitch.
The Duke’s former private secretary, who has reportedly departed over her role in organising the Newsnight interview, has become Pitch@Palace’s chief executive.
Amanda Thrisk had worked for the Duke since 2012, and, according to her Linkedin profile, has been a director of Pitch@Palace since 2014.
Prince Andrew resigned from his positions as patron of the Outward Bound Trust and chancellor of Huddersfield yesterday amid continued fallout from last week’s interview.
Read more: Bosch cuts ties with Pitch@Palace as Prince Andrew stays on
BT has said it will not work with skills firm Idea while the Duke remains a patron.
Pitch@Palace has also dropped a controversial requirement in its terms that entitled the Duke and his company to a two per cent stake in businesses that enter the competition, which had been widely condemned after being circulated online.