Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie are “deeply distressed” over the fallout from their father’s relationship with convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein — but are still standing by their embattled dad, according to a new report.
The sisters have put on a brave face in the wake of the Duke of York’s announcement this week that he’d step back from public duties “for the foreseeable future” — after reportedly being sacked by his mom, Queen Elizabeth II, the Daily Beast reported Thursday.
“Andrew was fighting not just for his survival but for all their survival,” a source who has been connected to the family for many years told the Daily Beast. “Andrew and Sarah will obviously be worried about how his resignation impacts their children’s future.”
Beatrice’s wedding to her property developer fiancé, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, scheduled for next year, will be scaled down as the family grapples with Andrew’s reduced status, the Daily Beast reported.
“I can honestly say that the splendor of her wedding will be the last thing on Beatrice’s mind,” a friend told the outlet. “Eugenie and Beatrice are both genuinely really good kids and very close to both their parents. They have been through a hell of a lot and they have never turned on each other, which is really pretty extraordinary when you think about it.”
“The girls have both been not just reconciled to but have actually welcomed living more normal lives and having normal jobs for some time now, even if their parents have not,” the friend added. “Say what you like about the Yorks, but the loyalty of that family is something to behold.”
The embattled prince used the girls as an alibi in his baffling interview with the BBC last weekend.
He claimed that on the first night Virginia Roberts Giuffre claims she had sex with him in 2001, he was actually at home with the kids — a night he remembers because he took Princess Beatrice to “the Pizza Express in Woking.”
But that statement was unlikely to faze the princesses — because they’d “simply believe him,” the friend told the Daily Beast.
Following their father’s withdrawal, the daughters will still have a limited number of royal engagements per year — as they always have, a Buckingham Palace spokesman confirmed to the Daily Mail.
“The Princesses do undertake a small number of royal engagements each year, as and when asked, and that will continue,” the spokesman said.
But Andrew won’t be able to promote his daughters as he used to, a royal source told the outlet.
“The promotion which Andrew had hoped for in terms of his daughters taking on more duties will now never happen,” the source said. “They will have to focus on the day job.”
Beatrice and Eugenie could also feel the financial impact — and the royal family is seeking to protect them, a palace source told the outlet.
“There was a sense of everyone circling the wagons around the girls,” the source said. “There is a feeling that they must not be made to pay for the sins of the father.”
“The Queen is particularly fond of Beatrice and Eugenie, and she respects the way that Andrew and Sarah have brought them up,” the insider added. “Even though you may feel that they made such a mess of their own lives, they have been loving co-parents. The Queen will continue to invite Beatrice and Eugenie to Balmoral over the summer and she sees quite a lot of them at Windsor. They, in turn, are fond of ‘Super Gran,’ as they call her.”
“The feeling is that everyone wants to protect them from this hurt and from further hurt,” the source explained, “rather than dance on their father’s ‘grave.’”
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