Over the course of one week, we’ve seen the British press pile on Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson, and then we’ve seen Buckingham Palace manipulate the press to deflect from the worst of Andrew and Fergie’s sordid and criminal behavior. Just the fact that everyone is now focused on Royal Lodge (and not Andrew’s visits to Epstein’s island) is a victory for the palace comms team. The palace has also (I believe) pushed some predictably negative stories about the Sussexes, because that’s been everyone’s go-to deflection for seven years. But here’s another side-story being pulled up as a main story: what will happen to the York princesses, Beatrice and Eugenie? Richard Eden at the Daily Mail devoted his weekly column to B&E and how they shouldn’t be treated badly just because they have horrible parents. The Telegraph also had a longer piece about how B&E successfully navigate a… half-in, half-out royal life. Would you look at that?? I was told that NO ONE could be half-in half-out? Why, I never!!

“Beatrice and Eugenie have to really make a tough decision here because they’re so identified with the York unit, and the York unit is toxic,” says royal commentator, Richard Fitzwilliams. “But it might even go beyond decisions they’re able personally to make now. There’s an element where it’s out of their hands.”

It may be that others make up their own minds about how much they want to be associated with the princesses in the future, he suggests. The best way forward for them in the meantime, he says, will involve quickly moving to build their own profiles, separate from those of their parents – if, indeed, they can. “Given the circumstances – it’s just week by week now [that more damaging revelations emerge] – what they’ve got to try to do is create a public image that differentiates them from their parents,” says Fitzwilliams. “[But] how they do it is far from clear.”

Both princesses work for a living. Beatrice, 37, has been a private equity analyst for more than a decade, and in 2022 set up BY-EQ, which describes itself as a “mission led advisory firm working with technology and market leading companies to maximise the positive impact they can have”. Eugenie, 35, who has a degree in English literature and history of art from Newcastle University, has worked for the gallery, Hauser & Wirth, for the past 10 years.

While the sisters are not official working members of the Royal family, they do have HRH titles – something their parents insisted on when they were born – and have long walked something of a tightrope as a result. On occasion, their desire to combine their own independent careers with sporadic public events presents something of a challenge for the Royal family. Earlier this month, Princess Eugenie joined forces with Jordan’s Princess Rajwa al Hussein to visit a London psychiatric hospital, later publishing the photographs on her Instagram account.

The visit pointed to the unique position the siblings occupy in the broader royal machinery – with one foot in and one foot out. Beatrice is one of seven Counsellors of State, who undertake official duties on behalf of the King if he is unable to do so. Eugenie is a mentor for the “35 under 35” network run by the monarch’s foundation.

Both regularly involve themselves in charity work. Eugenie’s includes her role as co-founder of the Anti-Slavery Collective, which works to eradicate slavery around the world, and as patron of the charity, Horatio’s Garden, which creates gardens at NHS spinal injury centres. Beatrice’s includes her patronage of the Northwood African Education Foundation and the Chartered College of Teaching. Both sisters are also honorary patrons of the Teenage Cancer Trust, which was among the organisations to drop their mother in September. Whether charities will, in future, be as keen to be associated with any members of the family is now in doubt, says Fitzwilliams. “When the House of York is falling, there comes a point where it’s absolutely impossible for future charities to link up with them,” he says. “There’s an aura about [the scandal surrounding their parents] that the charities won’t want to be attached to.”

Now, however, there are signs that a public distancing may be under way. Last week, Eugenie was reported to have ended her long tradition of posting a birthday message for her mother on social media, when Ferguson turned 66. More recent reports have suggested the sisters may now be readying to publicly disentangle themselves from the scandals surrounding their parents.

“I think they’re caught. There’s a very tight bond [and] I’m sure [the princesses] are being supportive of the parents,” says Andrew Lownie, author of Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York. He predicts they will fly “a little bit more under the radar” with their own business activities for the meantime though. “They’ve both been doing a lot in the Middle East recently. I think that will go on hold,” he says.

Still, there will be tough choices for them make. They will shortly be forced to decide whether to spend Christmas with their parents (which would be, suggests Fitzwilliams, a “catastrophic public relations mistake”), or join the other Royals for their symbolic festivities at Sandringham. Not to mention where they decide to position themselves, as more aligned with their parents or with the Royals. The challenge, says Fitzwilliams, is to avoid being “subsumed in a tide of horror”. That may mean a certain steeliness and resolve. “The only way they can act now is never be photographed with their parents, and try to distance themselves as much as possible,” he says. “It’s a difficult time for them. It’s deeply distressing and they must feel it desperately.”

[From The Telegraph]

“The visit pointed to the unique position the siblings occupy in the broader royal machinery – with one foot in and one foot out.” The fact that the royal stenographers write this with a straight face, as if they haven’t been screaming, crying and throwing up over the very idea of Harry and Meghan being half-in the institution, visiting the UK regularly and doing charity work, all while basing themselves in California. “NO ONE IS ALLOWED TO DO THAT,” they screamed. “NO HALF-IN!” Anyway, it benefits Beatrice to be lumped together with Eugenie. Eugenie’s life and career is pretty above-board, and Eugenie genuinely has one foot out the door of the monarchy. Eugenie had already planned for a future with few royal attachments. Beatrice is much more connected to her parents and I absolutely believe that Bea has some shady business deals of her own. All that being said, it’s clear that Charles and William don’t mind having B&E in some sort of half-in situation. After all, Eugenie was tasked with entertaining Jordan’s Princess Rajwa last week while the Princess of Wales sat at home and sulked, apparently.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid, Cover Images.