The historic statement from Buckingham Palace stripping Andrew Mountbatten Windsor of his title is an “acknowledgment” that something happened to the late Virginia Giuffre, her family has told the Guardian.

In its announcement on Thursday, the palace said Andrew Mountbatten Windsor – as he is now known – will also leave his mansion in Windsor, Royal Lodge, as his links to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein continue to cause controversy.

The statement concluded: “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.”

Asked whether this suggested King Charles believes Virginia over Andrew, her brother Sky Roberts said: “Absolutely, I think that he’s speaking very clearly in that statement when he says he’s with survivors out there.

“It’s an acknowledgment that something occurred, something has happened. There has been a shift,” he said.

Giuffre’s sister-in-law, Amanda Roberts, said: “To put that acknowledgment out for survivors is huge. We haven’t seen that from anyone, and to acknowledge that there are survivors in this situation is an acknowledgment that abuse did occur.

“It is the very first step for that justice for survivors. It is first the acknowledgment that something went on here. There was real trauma that happened to these young girls.”

In a posthumous memoir, Giuffre – who died earlier this year – repeated allegations that, as a teenager, she had sex with Mountbatten Windsor on three separate occasions. He has always denied any wrongdoing. He settled a civil case with Giuffre for a reported £12m with no admission of liability.

Amanda described the statement by the palace as a “victory” and “vindication for our sister”.

“We’re just so exceptionally proud of her, but then the sorrow hits because you wish she was here to share this moment together with her – a moment that she has been waiting for, for a very long time,” she added.

Women’s rights campaigners and advocacy groups also welcomed the move by the royal family, with some saying it sent an important message to survivors of abuse.

Gemma Sherrington, chief executive of Refuge, said it was “incredibly powerful to see survivors recognised so directly in a statement from the palace”, adding that it sent a message that “survivors matter, that their experiences are believed, and that they deserve to be at the heart of national conversations about abuse”.

Penny East, the chief executive at the Fawcett Society, said “it is a welcome acknowledgment that the real victims here are not embarrassed politicians or disgraced princes, but the women and girls who were sexually assaulted by entitled, misogynistic men.”

However, she added: “Removing a title, or moving house can never be viewed as true accountability or sufficient punishment. Indeed, one brave woman, Virginia Giuffre, has lost her life. It was a terrible tragedy, and a reminder of the profound impact sexual assault has on women and girls.”

Describing Giuffre’s character and fight for justice, Sky said she was a “strong warrior” who could also be cheeky and goofy.

“This is an ordinary girl from an ordinary family that did something extraordinary and I think this is something the world should be proud of.

“She was this strong warrior who refused to back down and refused to stay silent and we are finally getting that acknowledgment that she truly was a world hero.”

The palace declined to comment.

In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support for rape and sexual abuse on 0808 802 9999 in England and Wales, 0808 801 0302 in Scotland, or 0800 0246 991 in Northern Ireland. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html

Detectives in Northern Virginia say a man is accused of setting his neighbor’s home on fire and killing her, burning his own home down, and then filing an insurance claim.

On Oct. 24, Loudoun County Fire and Rescue responded to the Lowes Island area of Sterling, where a three-alarm fire claimed the life of a 36-year-old woman.

On Tuesday, her neighbor was arrested and charged with arson and murder.

Video shows fire tearing through townhomes. T​hree adjacent properties were damaged. The residents asked News4 not to share their names, but they shared their story. They said they woke up early last Friday morning, and the light pouring in from the window convinced them it was daytime.

But when they checked the clock, it was 1 a.m.

They looked out the window and saw their back porch fully engulfed in fire, burning with their neighbors’ homes. They rushed outside and heard their neighbor inside her home.

“She’s asking for help, and there’s nothing we could do,” one of the residents said.

After a couple of minutes of screaming, the voice went quiet, they said.

The Loudoun County Fire Department says 36-year-old Madelaine Akers was trapped inside her burning home and was killed.

“We saw lots of smoke coming out from that window. Lot of smoke coming out from that window, and within 3-4 minutes, we couldn’t hear her voice,” they said.

Akers lived in the townhome second from the end. The end unit was also a total loss.

After days of investigating, fire officials ruled out any possibility that the fire was accidental. After checking doorbell camera video and reviewing his car’s tracking data, the sheriff’s office arrested 78-year-old Jacob Bogatin.

He lived in the end unit, although neighbors said he and his wife appeared to move out of their home in the weeks and days leading up to the fire.

Fire investigators determined the flames started behind Akers’ unit, and they believe Bogatin intentionally started the fire.

According to a criminal complaint obtained by News4, the day after the fire, an insurance claim was filed for Bogatin’s home for more than double of what is owed on the residence that was recently foreclosed on.

Bogatin has been charged with arson and Akers’ murder.

Bogatin’s criminal case history shows a case involving federal indictments from 2003. The charges listed include RICO conspiracy, wire fraud, money laundering and SEC fraud.

In that 2003 federal case out of Pennsylvania, the federal government alleged Bogatin conspired with a few others to set up a fraudulent business and then allegedly take that fraudulent business public to line their own pockets by defrauding investors out of tens of millions of dollars, according to court records. Those records did not specify what the final result of that case was.

Bog​atin is in a Loudoun County jail awaiting a court hearing on the murder charge.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Virginia will elect its first woman as governor Tuesday as Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears and Democratic U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger look to replace term-limited Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin. Voters will also decide races for lieutenant governor, attorney general and the state House of Delegates.

The commonwealth is holding one of two elections for governor this year. Historically, the races in Virginia and New Jersey in the year following a presidential election have been closely watched on a national level as a barometer of how voters are feeling about the party holding the White House.

Spanberger has held a financial advantage throughout the campaign, bringing in about $66 million over the course of her campaign, compared to about $35 million for Earle-Sears. The Democrat entered the final two-week stretch of the campaign with about $4.1 million remaining in the bank, compared to $1.3 million for the Republican.

The race for lieutenant governor features Democratic state Sen. Ghazala Hashmi of Richmond and Republican talk-radio host John Reid. Hashmi prevailed in a crowded June Democratic primary, while Reid was unopposed for the Republican nomination. Reid’s campaign got off to a rocky start when Youngkin called on him to withdraw from the race after allegations surfaced linking Reid to a social media account containing sexually explicit photos. Reid has denied any involvement with the account.

Controversy has also swirled in the race for state attorney general, where Republican incumbent Jason Miyares seeks a second term. His challenger is former Democratic state Del. Jay Jones, who in text messages from 2022 suggested, among other things, that a prominent Republican lawmaker get “two bullets to the head.” Jones has apologized for the messages, but the issue has been a major topic not only in the race for attorney general but also at the top of the ticket. Earle-Sears has criticized Spanberger on the campaign trail and in television ads for not calling on Jones to withdraw from the race.

Voters will also determine which party will control the closely divided state House of Delegates, where Democrats hold a 51-48 seat majority, with one seat vacant. The state Senate is not up for election this year.

Virginia has undergone a political realignment in the last 20 years, driven largely by population growth in the Washington, D.C., suburbs in Northern Virginia, which has favored Democrats. The area is home to a concentration of federal workers, some of whom are now furloughed because of the government shutdown or lost their jobs as part of the Trump administration’s efforts to slash the federal workforce.

Republican presidential candidates carried the commonwealth in 10 consecutive elections from 1968 to 2004, but Democrats have prevailed in the five elections since. Despite the recent streak, Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris won Virginia with a relatively modest 52% of the vote in 2024.

Virginia voters tend to be less party-loyal when it comes to state offices, as the governorship has changed party hands seven times over the last 60 years.

Starting in 1976, every time a party has won back control of the White House, Virginia voters have elected a governor from the opposing party the following year. And in 11 of the last 12 gubernatorial elections, the winner of the Virginia governorship has been from a different party than the incumbent president. The sole exception was 2013, when Democrat Terry McAuliffe was elected governor while fellow Democrat Barack Obama occupied the White House.

The Associated Press does not make projections and will declare a winner only when it’s determined there is no scenario that would allow the trailing candidates to close the gap. If a race has not been called, the AP will continue to cover any newsworthy developments, such as candidate concessions or declarations of victory. In doing so, the AP will make clear that it has not yet declared a winner and explain why.

Virginia does not conduct automatic recounts. Candidates may request and pay for recounts if the margin between the top two candidates is 1 percentage point or less. The government will pay for the recount if the margin is less than 0.5 percentage points or the outcome has changed. The AP may declare a winner in a race that is eligible for a recount if it can determine the lead is too large for a recount or legal challenge to change the outcome.

Here’s a look at what to expect on Tuesday:

How late will polls be open?

Polls close at 7 p.m. ET.

What’s on the ballot?

The AP will provide vote results and declare winners in the races for governor, lieutenant governor, state attorney general and the House of Delegates.

Who gets to vote?

Any registered voter in Virginia may participate in statewide elections or in local elections in their state House district or municipality.

What do turnout and advance vote look like?

As of early September, there were about 6.3 million registered voters in Virginia. Voters do not register by party.

In the 2021 gubernatorial election, turnout was about 55% of registered voters. About 36% of votes in that election were cast before Election Day.

As of Monday, nearly 987,000 ballots had already been cast before Election Day. See the AP Advance Vote Tracker for the latest update.

How long does vote counting usually take?

In the 2024 presidential election, the AP first reported results at 7:11 p.m. ET, or 11 minutes after polls closed. The election night tabulation ended at 3:56 a.m. ET with about 95% of total votes counted.

Are we there yet?

As of Tuesday, there will be 364 days until the 2026 midterm elections and 1,099 days until the 2028 general election.

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Follow the AP’s coverage of the 2025 election at https://apnews.com/projects/election-results-2025/.

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