Hospital staff disciplined over missing Prince Andrew plaque

Panel unveiled by Duke at Belfast hospital went missing in 2022 as he faced a sex abuse court case

Hospital staff have been disciplined after a plaque unveiled by the Duke of York went missing, it has emerged.
The plaque marked the official opening of a Belfast City Hospital tower in June 1986 and was placed near the front entrance of the main building.
It went missing in January 2022, shortly after the Duke was stripped of his military titles and royal patronages, as Buckingham Palace sought to limit the fallout from his sexual abuse case.
At the time, the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust said it had been removed “without direction” and that an investigation had been launched “into its whereabouts”.
Two and a half years on, emails seen by the BBC reveal that the plaque has been recovered and that staff “behaviours” were addressed “in accordance with trust disciplinary procedures”.
No decision has been made on reinstating the plaque, which remains in storage.
At the time of its removal, the Duke was engulfed in a sex abuse scandal with sordid allegations made in a US civil court.
Virginia Giuffre claimed she was trafficked to the UK by convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and forced to have sex with the Duke.
The lawsuit generated months of high-profile legal wrangling as the Duke sought to have the case dismissed.
He eventually settled out of court in February 2022, issuing a statement that contained no admission of liability and no apology. The Duke has continued to vehemently deny the allegations.
In the year leading up to the settlement, the Duke was removed as patron by almost 50 organisations.
A Telegraph investigation found that other organisations also wanted to cut ties with the Duke but felt unable to do so as he had not been charged or convicted of any crime.
Instead, they quietly removed his portrait from their walls, deleted his name from their websites and even, in one case, concealed a plaque bearing his name behind a large plant.
The emails seen by the BBC reveal that the Belfast NHS trust carried out a “significant event audit” on the removal of the hospital plaque, which lasted several months.
An investigation by independent consultants eventually led to “action taken to address staff behaviours in accordance with trust disciplinary procedures”.
Another email suggested that the plaque had been removed “out of sensitivities arising from allegations circulating [in] national media at the time”.
The trust said it had received a complaint saying the plaque was “causing offence” and asking for it to be removed.