Ever since Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s arrest (19 February), eyes have turned to his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson and their two daughters.
Onlookers have been questioning where this leaves the family of the former Prince and Duke of York, who have been lying low since the events unfolded.
Andrew was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office at his home in Sandringham .
It came after allegations were made against the former royal following millions of pages of files being released by the Department of Justice last month, related to paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.
Thames Valley Police said it was reviewing claims he shared sensitive information with the paedophile while serving as the UK’s trade envoy.
Andrew has continuously denied any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein.
Andrew is the first senior royal in modern history to be arrested, and it’s raised a number of questions, including where this leaves his daughters, Princess Beatrice, 37, and Princess Eugenie, 35, and whether their father’s arrest will impact their lives.
Royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams told The Express: “Beatrice and Eugenie will disappear from royal life.
“They will probably lose their coveted charitable organisations. They are unlikely to be prominent in the future and would be better off quiet.”
India McTaggart, The Telegraph’s royals reporter, also predicted before Andrew’s arrest that we may be seeing less of the royal sisters in the wake of the ongoing Epstein scandal.
She said: “I do think that they have taken, possibly, a step back.
“They’re not officially working members of the family [but] they do pop in occasionally for official engagements, and they get brought in by William quite often, but I just think that they will probably want to lay low after all this.”
Andrew appears hundreds of times in the latest Department of Justice document release, including in photos and email exchanges, although this on its own doesn’t indicate any wrongdoing.
The former prince has also previously faced allegations, which he strenuously denies, that he sexually assaulted a teenage Virginia Giuffre after she was trafficked by Epstein.
He later paid millions to Giuffre, who died by suicide in April last year, a woman he claims never to have met, to settle a civil sexual assault claim in 2022.
After Andrew lost his royal titles last year, it meant his ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, could no longer go by Duchess of York.
A BBC report from last October outlines how Beatrice and Eugenie, who are non-working royals, are still known as princesses, which is something they have been entitled to since birth. There is also no change to the line of succession.
Royal commentator Victoria Murphy at the time: “As far as Beatrice and Eugenie go, I think there’s an appreciation of the fact that this scandal doesn’t involve them, and it’s not fair for it to impact them directly in the independent lives they are carving out for themselves.”
