It’s bad enough to have one parent involved in a scandal that brought disgrace upon your family. Having both their father, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, and their mother, Sarah Ferguson, making headlines for their ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein is devastating for their daughters, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie.
And to make matters worse, the pair has been dragged into the sordid mess themselves thanks to numerous mentions of them in the recently released Epstein files.
“The sisters feel aghast and embarrassed by the continued scrutiny of their family, and the fact that their names appear in the files,” says a palace insider.
“Now they’re having to grapple with how to handle the whole sorry situation and come to terms with having been used as pawns in their parents’ quest to curry favour with Epstein.”
Freshly released US Department of Justice emails also allege that Beatrice, then 22, was present when her mum phoned a journalist in 2011 to walk back comments in which she had referred to Epstein as a paedophile. Fergie wrote that Beatrice was a “witness” to the call and that the pair agreed it was “important” to tell the press that Epstein had “done his penance” after serving time for soliciting a minor for prostitution.
The latest release of emails, photographs and documents includes one suggesting Epstein had lunch in Florida with Fergie, Beatrice and Eugenie in July 2009, just days after he was released from prison. Others show he wanted Fergie, 66, to have her girls give his contacts tours of Buckingham Palace. In another, she told Epstein that Eugenie had been on a “shagging weekend”.
Royal sisters under scrutiny
While the sisters have not been implicated in any wrongdoing, simply being linked so directly to Epstein is incredibly damaging, says media commentator Alexander Larman. Any association with the disgraced financier, however indirect, now invites renewed scrutiny.
Historian Tessa Dunlop agrees that the siblings are “sitting on a ticking time bomb”, especially as more material emerges about their parents’ involvement.
This latest batch includes photos of Andrew, 65, crouching over a young woman lying on the floor, and Fergie telling Epstein she thought of him as a brother.
“It’s unforgivable to maintain friendly communication with a convicted paedophile,” Tessa says, adding the situation becomes murky when “the villains of the piece are your mother and father”.
Navigating a delicate balance
The sisters’ attempts to publicly distance themselves from their parents, including reportedly choosing to spend Christmas with the wider royal family rather than at home, underscores how carefully they are navigating this fallout.
Some sources say Beatrice and Eugenie, both mothers of two, remain loyal to Fergie and Andrew behind closed doors. It is believed that Eugenie has recently spent time with her mum in the United Arab Emirates, but has stepped away from her father entirely.
“Eugenie has completely cut Andrew off,” says one palace staffer.
“Beatrice, however, is trying to toe a very fine line of supporting him privately while maintaining her relationship with the wider royal family.”
This balancing act appears even more fraught in light of the latest disclosures, which show Beatrice was not only aware of her mother’s attempts to repair her relationship with Epstein but also participated in discussions about how to present him to the media.
Public sympathy remains strong
Friends say the sisters now feel “duped” as new revelations continue to undermine the narrative their parents told them. Royal commentator Jennie Bond says public sympathy for the pair remains strong.
“They’ve had to endure scandal after scandal involving their parents over the years. Until now, they have remained a close-knit family with fierce loyalty to one another. This, though, must be testing their love and loyalty. It must be tough for both young women.”
Protecting their public image
Eugenie is in a particularly awkward position because of her charity, The AntiSlavery Collective, which campaigns to end modern slavery and sex trafficking, a cause some critics now say sits uneasily alongside her family’s connections to Epstein.
Author Andrew Lownie believes the sisters could best protect themselves by stepping back entirely from public life. Others argue Beatrice, 37, and Eugenie, 35, can rebuild their reputations by leaning into meaningful work and demonstrating consistent values.
PR expert Renae Smith says, “The smartest strategy is to continue building independent identities. Work around children, education or mental health will be most appropriate in the long run.”
What they should avoid, Renae warns, is making any public statements about Epstein or their parents, as this could reignite scrutiny and prolong the scandal.
Facing the past
The latest tranche of emails also contains a 2015 message in which Epstein told a friend not to worry about meeting Beatrice at an event because she “liked” him. While this is Epstein’s claim – and not evidence of a personal connection – it adds another uncomfortable layer to the growing picture of how frequently Beatrice’s name appeared in his private correspondence.
The emerging pattern also echoes Beatrice’s later role in facilitating Andrew’s ill-fated 2019 Newsnight interview – another moment in which she was inadvertently drawn into the handling of her parents’ reputational crises.
Beatrice and Eugenie are now confronting not only the shame of their parents’ decisions, but the uncomfortable realisation of how deeply and how early they were pulled into events they never fully understood.
