Following months of international media attention, Selwyn Township will proceed to rename two small islands in the Otonabee River beside Lakefield that are associated with Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the disgraced younger brother of King Charles III who was formerly known as Prince Andrew, Duke of York.
At a meeting on Tuesday (March 10), township council voted to request that the Ontario Geographic Names Board rescind the names of Prince Andrew Island and Gordonstoun Island as soon as possible. The township would then consult with the community to come up with new names for the two islands, which would ultimately be submitted to the board for approval.
The two uninhabited islands were originally renamed in 1978 to recognize Mountbatten-Windsor’s time at Lakefield College School during the winter and spring terms in 1977 as a 17-year-old exchange student from Scotland’s Gordonstoun School, where King Charles III and his father Prince Philip were also educated.
Previously known as Island 32, Prince Andrew Island is Crown land, while Gordonstoun Island, previously known as Island 8, has been owned by Selwyn Township since 1888. In 1977, the former Village of Lakefield passed a resolution requesting the Ontario Geographic Names Board rename the islands. A year later, the request was approved.
Council’s decision on Tuesday follows the ongoing controversy surrounding Mountbatten-Windsor’s relationship with the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Their friendship became widely known after Epstein’s 2008 conviction in Florida for soliciting prostitution from a minor, and Mountbatten-Windsor faced continued criticism for maintaining contact with Epstein after that conviction.
In 2014, the late Virginia Giuffre alleged that Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell had trafficked her to Mountbatten-Windsor when she was 17, and a notorious photo surfaced of Mountbatten-Windsor with his arm around Giuffre. He repeatedly denied Giuffre’s allegation, but controversy intensified following a disastrous 2019 interview with the BBC.
In 2022, Mountbatten-Windsor reached an out-of-court settlement with Giuffre in a civil lawsuit filed in the United States. While the settlement included no admission of liability, the fallout led Mountbatten-Windsor to step back from public duties and relinquish his honorary military titles and royal patronages with the approval of Queen Elizabeth II.
Following the release of Giuffre’s memoir Nobody’s Girl last fall, six months after she took her own life, Mountbatten-Windsor came under renwed scrutiny. Charles III subsequently removed his remaining royal styles and honours and restricted his use of titles and peerages. After the release of more Epstein files in early 2026, Mountbatten-Windsor was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office and was later released under investigation.
Selwyn Township Mayor Sherry Senis, who says she wasn’t even aware of the names of the islands until she received a call from a Globe and Mail reporter last fall asking about them, brought forward a resolution to township council on November 11 asking staff to prepare a report on changing the names of the islands. Since then, she has received calls from international media about the name change.
At Tuesday’s council meeting, deputy clerk Tania Goncalves presented two options to council: request that the Ontario Geographic Names Board rescind the existing names immediately and then make a future request to the board for proposed new names, or request that the board rescind the existing names immediately without proposing new names — in which case the islands would revert to their previous names.
The staff report to council recommended that, if council decides to proceed with the renaming process, “that the township work with Curve Lake First Nation and the Municipal Heritage Committee to develop a shortlist of names that align with the key principles of the Ontario Geographic Names Board.”
“Once the shortlist is prepared, it would be presented to council for consideration. Following council’s review of the names, the short list would be shared with the public for final consultation. Following this engagement process, council would then decide on names to submit to the board.”
Goncalves told council the board meets four times a year and, while the board could quickly agree to rescind the existing names, it could take as long as a year for the board to approve new names.
“It’s an opportunity to recognize historical relationships between the Village of Lakefield and our Indigenous neighbours,” said deputy mayor Ron Black in support of the renaming option.
“Maybe one island (name) is related to Indigenous history and one’s related to the history of Lakefield or Selwyn Township — significant contributors to development of this area. I think it is an opportunity, and those people will be long-gone so there shouldn’t be a problem with the names down the road … We need to take the time to get it right.”
Lakefield councillor John Boyko noted he had received an email from a journalist in the Netherlands asking about the renaming of the islands.
“So it’s a big deal,” Boyko said. “It behooves us to get this done and get this quickly — I know it will take the time, but let’s move on this now. If quickly means a year, it’s a year.”
Council unanimously approved the first option to rescind the existing names and proceed with the renaming process.
