Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie have tried to distance themselves publicly from their disgraced father but in private they are still in touch and supportive, according to friends.
Since Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was first forced to step away from public duties in November 2019 after his disastrous BBC Newsnight interview in which he defended his friendship with the late convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, he has found solace in regular visits from his daughters and their children.
Visitors to Royal Lodge, the 30-room mansion near Windsor where he still lives with his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson have described seeing the elegant saloon piled high with children’s toys. In what amounts to internal exile at Sandringham, those family visits will be even more important.
Since Andrew lost his titles and honours in October and was forced to leave Royal Lodge following the Epstein scandal, his daughters have grown reluctant to speak publicly about their affection for their parents, a marked change from before.
Until October they regularly spent weekends at Royal Lodge when in the UK. While trips to Sandringham, 114 miles north of London and 140 miles from Windsor, are likely to be less frequent, there are still plans for him to enjoy cherished time with his grandchildren when he moves into Marsh Farm on the King’s 20,000-acre Norfolk estate ahead of Easter, well-placed sources say, who have denied reports that Eugenie has cut off contact.
Andrew was forced to agree to move out of Royal Lodge due to his scandalous links with Jeffrey Epstein (Photo: Toby Melville/Reuters)“Both parents saw their grandchildren before Christmas,” said one family friend. They stressed the former Duke and Duchess of York and their daughters are still supporting each other in the face of an onslaught of criticism of Andrew and Fergie’s links with Epstein, and business dealings with shady characters including an alleged Chinese spy. “They remain a resilient family.”
Beatrice and Eugenie, who spent Christmas at Sandringham with the King and their extended family rather than with their banished parents, walk a difficult line. There is no doubt that their parents’ downfall has strained their relationship.
They do not undertake official duties on behalf of the monarch and have their own careers, using in many cases contacts opened up to them by their parents and their royal background. Andrew Lownie, whose biography of the Yorks, Entitled, helped to bring Andrew and Fergie down, said: “Beatrice and Eugenie need their royal titles and to be seen with the King at Sandringham but they also need to distance themselves publicly from their parents now.”
For Eugenie, who works for the Mayfair art gallery Hauser & Wirth, the situation is particularly sensitive, not least because she also helps run the Anti-Slavery Collective, a charity campaigning to end all forms of modern slavery, including sex trafficking. This places her in an uncomfortable position given the allegations surrounding her father’s association with Jeffrey Epstein. Andrew has consistently denied any wrongdoing.
Princesses Eugenie and Beatrice spent Christmas at Sandringham with the King and their extended family (Photo: Samir Hussein/WireImage)Eugenie and her husband, Jack Brooksbank, still have a home, Ivy Cottage, at Kensington Palace that Andrew negotiated for them but they spend much of their time now living in Portugal with their sons August and Ernest so are removed from the day-to-day struggles affecting her parents, who have been deserted by many of their former friends.
Beatrice, who has been at the World Economic Forum in Davos this week, keeping relatively under the radar while speaking about her work advising companies on AI and technology, splits her time between homes in London and the Cotswolds with her husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi and their children.
As the elder daughter, she has always been more closely involved in family discussions about the crisis affecting her parents and appears to feel a keener sense of responsibility for helping them to navigate it. Even she is said to have had spells out of touch with them lately but they were at her one-year-old daughter Athena’s christening at the Chapel Royal, St James’s Palace in December and friends insist she remains supportive of her parents.
Eugenie in particular has remained close to her cousin Prince Harry, visiting him in California, but, while others such as Brooklyn Peltz Beckham may have taken inspiration from the Duke of Sussex in publicly denouncing his family – Harry and Brooklyn were said to have bonded at a dinner party in Montecito, California, last May – the Yorks keep it in-house and hold it together, according to friends.
Until October Andrew’s daughters regularly spent weekends at Royal Lodge when in the UK (Photo: Gero Breloer/AP)Neither daughter has shown signs of wanting to criticise their parents publicly and, although their careers are at risk of contagion from their parents’ tarnished reputation, Lauren Beeching, a crisis PR expert, sees no need for them to do that. “Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie are dealing with guilt by association in a situation that’s almost impossible to manage publicly,” she said.
“Personally, I don’t think the smartest move is for them to publicly announce that they’re distancing themselves from their father. The more effective approach is simply not to be seen with him and not make a spectacle of it.”
Their mother has stayed loyal publicly too to Andrew but is also implicated in emails in which her friendship with Epstein even after his conviction for solicitation of a minor for prostitution is clear. She has lived rent-free at the opposite end of Royal Lodge to her ex-husband for most of the time since he moved into the house in 2004 but they plan to go their separate ways when they leave. “She is looking at various options but her preference is to stay in the (Windsor) area,” one friend said.
Quite how she will afford to buy or rent a home remains unclear. Her career as a novelist and children’s writer appears to be over but she has vowed to work again. “Once she is back up and running again she is going to have a professional career,” the friend said.
It remains unclear whether she will visit her ex-husband in his new home, where his famous collection of teddy bears may be all he has for company for much of the time.
His daughters will be hoping to avoid the cameras when they come visiting so that they can at least perpetuate the idea of a quiet public separation.
Lownie, who has heard conflicting accounts from friends of the Yorks about the daughters’ attitude towards seeing their father, said: “I think they’ve been very loyal to the family. They’ve been through bad things before.
“But I think they might be worried there are further damaging revelations to come.”
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