Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie ‘Very Upset’ Over Royal Duties Snub

Friends of Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie have said they are “very upset” but “not surprised” to have not been asked to carry out any royal engagements while the threadbare royal family grapples with a double health crisis that has seen King Charles, Prince William, and Kate Middleton all step back from royal duties.

A friend of the young women told The Daily Beast: “It seems mean that the girls aren’t being used at all when they have made it clear they want to be of service, especially when Prince Andrew has been accepted back into the fold. They have done nothing wrong and they shouldn’t be visited with the sins of their father. They are very upset to have been ignored by the king as they feel they have a lot to offer, but ultimately not surprised. They are sanguine about it.”

Another source, a friend of the wider family, told The Daily Beast: “Charles is very fond of the York girls, but everyone, including them, accepts there is no place for them to be full-time working royals. And as the late Queen Elizabeth made clear, being a part-time working royal isn’t an option.”

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A former courtier, asked if the unavailability of Charles, William, and Kate for public duties—leaving the monarchy officially represented by Queen Camilla (76), Princess Anne (73), Prince Edward (60), and wife Sophie (59)—pointed to the folly of cutting out the two younger royals (Beatrice is 35 and Eugenie is 33), saying: “With hindsight you can make the argument that they should have been kept on, but a dramatic change of course now would not be helpful for anyone. The York girls have built successful lives as private individuals.”

In an interview with The Daily Beast earlier this year, the king’s trusted biographer Robert Hardman made a similar point when asked if the king could bring Princesses Eugenie and Beatrice back, saying: “I don’t think there’s any appetite for that. To suddenly bring them into the public orbit would, I think, send out a confusing message that would go against the general sense of streamlining. The king is very fond of his nieces, but they’re private individuals.”

Evidence of the king’s ongoing affection for his nieces can be found in the fact that since her 2020 marriage to Edoardo “Edo” Mapelli Mozzi in 2020, Princess Beatrice and her family have lived in a four-bed apartment in St. James’ Palace, with 2-year-old daughter Sienna and Edoardo’s older child from a previous relationship, Wolfie. They are understood to pay market rent. Eugenie, the younger sister, lives at a luxury golf and ocean club in Portugal but spends time at her sister’s St. James’ apartment when in the U.K.

Some believe, however, that if Charles and Kate were to be permanently sidelined, forced into greatly reduced roles for the longer term by ongoing health challenges, a Prince William regency would look desperately short-handed. This was highlighted Thursday when a gaunt-looking Charles was forced to address the symbolically important Maundy Thursday service via recorded audio clip (Camilla attended in his stead in person). In the future, Anne may want to retire or at least scale back her packed schedule (she did 450 engagements in 2023 and is on course to do even more than that this year).

This royal staffing time bomb is coming anyway, as the Waleses are unlikely to want their children becoming full time working royals until at least their mid-twenties. Their eldest child, Prince George, is only 10 right now.

Some observers suspect that’s why the regular suggestions by associates of the Yorks that the daughters of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson could be invited back into the family—even on that oft ruled-out part-time basis— continue to be floated.

They were, after all, great favorites of Queen Elizabeth, who insisted that as the only “blood princesses” of their generation, they be accorded all the privileges due to them; indeed, even Kate Middleton, when a mere duchess, was required to curtsey to them if she met them alone.

However, as part of her gradual handover of power to Charles, Queen Elizabeth lumped—rather than liked—his directive that they be cut from the core group of working royals as part of his vision of a slimmed-down royal family. They were formally stripped of police protection, stipends, and free accommodation in 2011, much to Prince Andrew’s displeasure. The decoupling was complete when they were banned by Charles from appearing on the Buckingham Palace balcony at the 2012 jubilee celebrations.

The trouble for the royals is that if they don’t want to rehire Beatrice and Eugenie, the institution will have to accept that its working members will be seen less and less by the public in the decades ahead—and Charles will be the monarch who has presided over the inevitable decline of the once-mighty footprint of the royal family. It certainly doesn’t sound like much of a plan.

Neither Buckingham Palace nor representatives for the Yorks returned requests for comment.