As Buckingham Palace quietly withdraws support, the fallout from their parents’ entanglement with Epstein is pushing the sisters to the margins of royal life
Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie are said to be “horrified” by their parents’ entanglement with Jeffrey Epstein – and are now paying a price for it.
In a significant shift in mood at Buckingham Palace, the King appears to have concluded that the sisters must, like their parents, be kept away from royal public occasions. Until now, Charles’s position had been that Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s daughters were blameless and deserved to have their privileges protected. But after a series of damaging revelations linking them, however peripherally, to Epstein, royal aides have quietly withdrawn their support.
The first test comes at Easter. When the Royal Family gathers at Windsor on Easter Sunday, the royal equivalent of Kremlinologists will be watching to see if Beatrice and Eugenie are in the party.
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Both have been fairly regular attendees at the service at St George’s Chapel – but this year they will not be staying with their disgraced parents at nearby Royal Lodge, which Andrew and Sarah Ferguson have been forced to vacate, and it seems unlikely they will show their faces in front of the cameras.
Beyond Easter, it has been reported that both sisters face not being part of the royal party at Ascot in June – a prospect that sent shockwaves when it first emerged at the weekend.
“They don’t really know what to do,” says royal biographer Ingrid Seward, editor-in-chief of Majesty magazine. “If they are sensible they will lie low.”
Their father was stripped of his titles and honours last October after it emerged in the Epstein files that he had remained friends with the convicted paedophile for longer than he had claimed.
Prince William is said to be in ‘lockstep’ with his father’s response to the fallout from the Espetin files (Photo: John Stillwell/AFP)
In one email released by the Department of Justice, Mountbatten-Windsor told Epstein they were “in this together” and would “play some more soon”.
Further revelations followed, including that Beatrice and Eugenie had met Epstein in the US alongside their mother in July 2009 after his release from prison for sex offences.
Buckingham Palace has declined to discuss the two princesses.
William won’t challenge Charles
Prince William is said to be “in lockstep” with his father over the fallout from Andrew’s friendship with Epstein.
In previous years, William has invited Beatrice and Eugenie, along with other cousins such as Zara and Mike Tindall, to help him and Catherine host a garden party at Buckingham Palace. While this hasn’t been formally ruled out, the Prince and Princess of Wales are expected to take direction from the King on what to do about Beatrice and Eugenie, meaning an appearance is unlikely.
Beatrice and Eugenie are reportedly suffering the effect of their parents’ association with Jeffrey Epstein (Photo: Chris Jackson/AFP)
Russell Myers, author of a new biography of the Prince and Princess of Wales, said the King was firmly in charge of the response to the crisis, and that William – having watched the chaos caused by Harry and Meghan going against the family hierarchy – would not act against his father’s wishes.
“He can’t be seen to be acting out of turn against the King,” Myers said, and there is no indication that he wants to.
Some friends of the royals believe Beatrice, 37, and Eugenie, 35, would in any case be a distraction at public events such as Royal Ascot. “They might attend the races among the crowd but they can’t be seen in the royal carriage procession with all this going on,” one source said.
The i Paper has revealed how, after their mother Sarah Ferguson’s US business, Hartmoor, collapsed in late 2009, Epstein brokered a deal between her and American businessman Keith Frankel to set up a new venture. During discussions, the idea was floated that her daughters, then aged 21 and 19, might be given shares in place of their mother.
In the end the deal collapsed, and there is no suggestion the sisters knew their names might be used.
The fall of the House of York
Beatrice and Eugenie, who both have private careers and do not represent the monarchy on the national or world stage, are already keeping a low profile.
They are not expected to join the Royal Family at the Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey on 9 March, nor at Trooping the Colour in June – though their absence from those events is less surprising, as the King has long tended to restrict attendance to working members of the family.
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But their exclusion from a family event such as Easter, and the royal carriage procession at Ascot, would send a clear message, painfully spotlighting the downfall of the House of York.
How Beatrice and Eugenie will navigate the next few months and years remains to be seen. Their royal status has helped build their careers but it may now be a hindrance to a happy and fulfilled life.
Craig Prescott, a constitutional expert at Royal Holloway, University of London and author of Modern Monarchy, said: “I really do wonder if they might not feel they’d be better off no longer calling themselves princesses.”
Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie did not respond to a request for comment.