In what might be said to be the most ruthless move of his reign, the King has pronounced that Prince Andrew is no longer a prince. It is a monumental move considering no prince anywhere, ever, has minded more about being a prince than mister Andrew Mountbatton-Windsor. It was his life blood and dictated every moment of his day. A friend of his says, “if he walked into a room and no one got up he would say ‘let’s try that again’ and go out. It’s a royal knock-out of a blow to him personally, but also one that raises many questions. Not least what will be the fate of the two princesses and his former duchess?
So far the word from the palace has been stark: Andrew M-W is to be booted out of his Royal Lodge mansion and rehomed on the Sandringham estate but no provision is to be made for his roomie Sarah Ferguson; and while there is no suggestion that Princess Beatrice and Eugenie will be de-titled, nothing has been said about their existing royal perks, like security and the peppercorn rent Eugenie, who mainly lives in Portugal, pays on her London home Ivy Cottage, on the grounds of Kensington Palace.
While the princesses’ fairytale has been turning dark for years, what has been remarkable is the skill with which they have managed to keep their fascinators below the parapet of the family decimation, it was only going to be a matter of time before some scattered fire fell on them.
On the face of it the York juniors don’t stand to lose much. As non-working royals their official appointment book had already been getting slimmer by the year. In the past they would both deputise for the late Queen when no one else could do it, but under the almost-reign of the Prince of Wales even these jobs have stopped.
Though Princess Eugenie was recently nominated as a mentor for the King's Foundation's 35 under 35 network, since the death of their grandmother the only time the York Sisters have played a royal role has been going to church with the family.
Though William is very fond of his cousins (they will always be invited to Christmas at the big house at Sandringham — though it’s likely that their Dad won’t be encouraged to come to church with the family) he seems to be asserting a ruthless streak when it comes to who’s In and Out at the palace these days. “It was him who was completely determined to get rid of Sussan H — who is his Godmother by the way — when she made that gaffe”, says one of the Queen’s courtiers, referring to the fact that in 2022 Lady of the Bedchamber, Lady Susan Hussey was forcibly put out to pasture after she repeatedly asked activist Ngozi Fulami, where she was “really” from.
“I would imagine that William, perhaps subconsciously, thinks of the girls as tainted by association”, the courtier adds.
It is no surprise that the warring princes take different positions on York policy. Though Prince Harry has long cordially despised his uncle (it was even alleged by Andrew Lownie that they got into a punch-up in 2013), he is understandably sympathetic to the potential pariah-hood of his cousins.
“I know Harry has been texting Uge a lot”, says a friend of Eugenie. “There are lots of jokes about them going to live as exiled royals together in Portugal”.
This might actually be more than idle cousin bants, as a few years ago Prince Harry bought a plot on the Costa Terra, where Eugenie lives with her husband Jack Brooksbank and two sons, so perhaps a mini ex-royal community is not out of the question.
In fact, those in the know say that the girls — both happily settled with respective husbands and two children a piece — must enjoy the peace while they can, on the grounds that the main “prolonged and hair-tearing row” in the palace has mainly been fought over the great matter of how to “house those Yorks”, according to a palace source. This, apparently, is a two pronged dilemma: on one hand, “It’s all very well saying that Andrew can be put somewhere at Sandringham, but who has to give up their house so he can move in?”, but thornier still is, what on earth to do with Fergie?
“It is ludicrous”, says the courtier, “but what to do with Sarah is insoluble. For some reason — though she always seems to be buying and selling things — there is nowhere she can live. It is now all about security, she claims hers is very precarious these days, so she can’t just be put up in a granny flat of her daughters.” In the past Ferguson relied very heavily on the staff, who were generally housed in cottages on the massive Royal Lodge estate for security and the running of her life, and thinks it is untenable for her to be abruptly cut off from this. “I bet she’ll go to one of the girls”, says the palace source.
Which brings us back to the plight of those poor princesses, which has been going on for years. Introduced to many of the nastier members of their parents’ gang — among other events, Jeffrey Epstein was at Beatrice’s 18th birthday party, and boasted in newly released emails that Sarah Ferguson was “the first to celebrate my release with her two daughters in tow”, when he got out of prison after serving his first sentence; it is also well documented that Fergie thought nothing of introducing her daughters to the likes of P Diddy and sex-offending fashion entrepreneur, Peter Nygard.
The unquestionable perks (it is unsurprising that as the children of Airmiles Andie and Freebie Fergie the princesses have always had a weakness for holidays and gifts) have come at a seedy price. A good example of this was the scandal in 2022 when it was revealed that Princess Beatrice had received £750,000 as a wedding present from Turkish millionaire Nehebat Isbilen. Though it was subsequently shown that this was part of the dodgy dealings of the businesswoman's financial advisor (who she took to court for misappropriation of funds) it goes to show the shady world the princesses have been brought up to move in. If I was a betting woman, I‘d wager that revelations like this will start to come thick and fast in the coming months.
As the prince is un-princed, embarrassing parents everywhere are linking arms and forming a conga line, revelling in the fact that nothing they’ve ever done or will ever do, can bring as much shame on their children as the ex-Prince and his ex-Duchess. While the princesses, like humiliated kids everywhere, will have to take comfort in the fact that if we know one thing about ludicrous parents: they are going to do what they are going to do. Prince or not.
