I'm Prince Andrew's biographer and I don't trust a word he or his ex-wife says

In four years of research for Entitled, my investigative biography of the former Duke of York and his family, I learned not to trust a single word from either Andrew or his former wife and it's now becoming painfully clear their links with Jeffrey Epstein were far greater than either of them admitted.

Royal aides may believe that stripping Andrew of his titles, including that of Duke of York, and removing his membership of the prestigious Order of the Garter, draws a line under the festering scandal of his long involvement with a convicted paedophile. If so, they have sorely misjudged the public mood.

Putting these titles in abeyance is simply not going to work; rather it seems like more smoke and mirrors, and there is a strong and I believe growing sense that Andrew must pay some sort of penalty for his behaviour even as he continues to deny accusations against him. He must stop being a prince, legislation to the effect must be introduced if necessary, and he must voluntarily leave Royal Lodge in Windsor Great Park.

If he is sincere that he is an honourable man who is prepared to put country and monarchy first, he must go into exile either in Saudi Arabia or Switzerland. And he must take his former wife, Sarah Ferguson, with him.

The voluntary relinquishing of his titles - to forcibly remove a Dukedom takes an act of Parliament - hasn't changed the current situation at all. It's window dressing and I don't think anyone is really persuaded by that. There is a good case for Andrew to be investigated for alleged malfeasance in public office and for the National Crime Agency to look at his time as a special trade envoy.

If as he has repeatedly claimed, all allegations against him are false and he remains an innocent man whose reputation has been traduced, he should welcome such official investigations as a way of clearing his name of wrongdoing once and for all. He should authorise current and former Met personal protection officers to speak openly about his movements, including for instance on the night Virginia Giuffre claimed he slept with her, and both he and his ex-wife should make themselves available to the lawyers for Epstein's victims as material witnesses in order to help with some kind of closure.

Clearly, a deal has been done to allow their daughters Beatrice and Eugenie to remain within the bosom of the royal family and they should not be penalised for the sins of their parents. I would caution the royal family however about giving them too prominent roles without due diligence into their own business and charitable activities.

At the same time, the Royal Family as a whole needs to look at accountability and transparency. Their records must be open to the public and no longer excluded from Freedom of Information legislation; and that royal wills can be unsealed. The introduction of a Royal register of interests, akin to the one that covers MPs, would go some way to allay public concerns about secrecy.

All of this is vital if the Royal Family, for so long the backbone of the nation, is to retain the trust and regard of the English people, upon whose good will their whole existence is predicated.

• Andrew Lownie is author of Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York