Just In: Andrew in total Mess As his aim to create new life for Princess Beatrice and Eugenie within Royal family Collapse
Just In: Andrew in total Mess As his aim to create new life for Princess Beatrice and Eugenie within Royal family Collapse
It was the late Queen Elizabeth II who decisively declared in 2020 that nobody could be “half in, half out” of the Royal Family. Her comments at the time were directed at Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, who had recently established their now-defunct “Sussex Royal” website following their departure from working royal duties. However, this same principle may also apply to Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, according to author and classicist Harry Mount.
Both Beatrice and Eugenie have full-time jobs, Mount in the i newspaper, yet they each retain London residences: Beatrice resides at St James’s Palace, while Eugenie has use of Ivy Cottage within the Kensington Palace estate.
Both properties are funded by the royal household. However, amid mounting scrutiny over what the two women knew about their parents’ connections to Jeffrey Epstein, King Charles III appears keen to draw a clearer line between the controversy surrounding the York family and the rest of the monarchy.
Beatrice and Eugenie will be absent from the Royal Family’s customary Easter Sunday church service at Windsor Castle, for instance.
Any prospect of royal duties – which [their father Andrew] Mountbatten-Windsor is reported to desire for them – are finished,” Mount writes in the i newspaper. “Of course, they will attend major royal occasions: weddings, christenings, funerals and coronations. But the high-profile opportunities like the Easter church service at Sandringham are finished.”
Prince Andrew’s ambitions for his daughters have been widely reported. In 2023, an insider told the Express: “Andrew has helped orchestrate a slow and gradual return for the girls, which has seen them do more and more charity work alongside school visits and other duties.”
The plan was to slowly increase their appearances over time until they became more prominent members of the family. They have realised that the girls are needed and have latched onto that like a limpet on a rock.”
However, recent controversies involving their parents appear to have undermined those prospects. Andrew’s links to Epstein, along with his reported association with an alleged Chinese spy, have fuelled ongoing public concern. In recent years, royal appearances have occasionally been met with small but vocal protests questioning what the King knew about his brother’s activities, and when.
Mount argues that the presence of Beatrice and Eugenie at such events could intensify that scrutiny. “Beatrice and Eugenie would hog the headlines if they went to church – and turn them negative. And the slow drip-drip of bad headlines has a long-term effect on the monarchy,” he said
Author Andrew Lownie, whose book Entitled helped bring renewed attention to Andrew’s affairs, claims the Royal Family is keen to keep the situation contained. He writes on Substack that there is “an awful lot of stuff going on behind the scenes” yet to emerge.
Mount also notes that shifting positions within the line of succession are gradually reducing the sisters’ prominence. “The nature of the Royal Family means they are increasingly slipping away from limelight. Princess Beatrice was fifth in line to the throne when she was born; she’s now ninth. Eugenie, sixth in line at birth, is now 12th.”
As time passes and younger royals take on official duties, Beatrice and Eugenie are likely to be pushed further to the margins.
