King Charles’ decision to strip his brother Andrew — formerly Prince Andrew — of his princely title hasn’t just brought undeniable humiliation to the former Duke of York’s daughters, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie. It could also have repercussions for their family for generations to come.
In fact, one Andrew biographer believes it could prompt the young women nieces to relinquish their own titles.
“All along, Andrew told Charles, ‘The deal is, I will fall on my sword if you make sure my girls are OK,’” Andrew Lownie, author of “Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York”, told Page Six. “They were the negotiating tool all along, but I think they may now want to renounce their titles … I think they could distance themselves from everything and have a quiet life.”
The shocking Thursday announcement that Andrew would no longer be known as a prince came after days of legal wrangling between palace officials and lawyers.
Besides now being known as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, Queen Elizabeth’s second son is being pushed out of his home, Royal Lodge, and banished to Sandringham, King Charles’ personal estate in Norfolk, England.
It’s just the latest, and — so far — most brutal, rung down the shame ladder in Andrew’s fall from grace.
The former prince, 65, continues to be mired in the Jeffrey Epstein scandal after being accused of sleeping with accuser Virginia Giuffre when she was just 17.
And Giuffre, who passed away in April, continues to get her revenge from the grave — writing in her recently released posthumous memoir that Andrew kissed her feet before allegedly abusing her.
“He was friendly enough, but still entitled — as if he believed having sex with me was his birthright,” Giuffre wrote.
While Andrew is the one accused, his daughters have to carry the burden of shame themselves.
A London insider who has spoken to Beatrice told Page Six, “She is heartbroken and doesn’t know why it all had to come down to this.”
And a well-placed palace source insisted, “Beatrice and Eugenie should not be tarnished by the so called sins of the father, they are very sweet girls … I would get those York girls to work.”
The two are not officially working royals, meaning taxpayers do not pay for their duties — nor is there any reason to think they will ever be added, given Charles and William’s shared desire for a slimmed-down monarchy.
Beatrice — who has two daughters with her husband, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi — and Eugenie, who shares two daughters with husband Jack Brooksbank, both fled the UK before the news of their father’s final downfall was announced Thursday.
The princesses both have jobs but they have stepped in as needed to help Prince William host garden parties at Buckingham Palace, and both do charity work.
“I suspect they are better at reading the room than Andrew … the days of freebies and using your title for work are numbered,” said Lownie. “They’ve also seen their mother ‘blag’ for 40 years.”
Indeed, it’s not just their father who has brought embarrassment to the family. The princesses’ mother, Sarah Ferguson — who was stripped of her “Duchess of York” title in October — has also been a source of humiliation.
In 2010, Ferguson publicly apologized after she was caught out by an undercover journalist offering to sell access to Andrew for $500,000.
She took a $20,000 loan from Epstein in the aughts and, in September of this year, several charities dropped her over leaked emails that secretly apologized to the convicted pedophile after trashing him in public.
“I know you feel hellaciously let down by me from what you were either told or read and I must humbly apologize to you and your heart for that,” she wrote to the man she called “dear Jeffrey.”
She also sold photos of Princess Beatrice to Hello! magazine after the 1988 birth, earning about $337,000 but breaking royal protocol.
In 1990, while still wed to Andrew, she started an extramarital affair with Texan businessman Steve Wyatt, and in 1992, while in the midst of a separation, Ferguson was pictured having her toes sucked by American John Bryan.
Despite divorcing Andrew in 1996, Ferguson has lived with the former prince for the past several years at Royal Lodge and the two are said to be thick as thieves.
“One of Sarah’s friends told me they are more worried about Sarah than Andrew,” a royal source said of Fergie’s reaction to Andrew’s latest shame, as well as losing her home. “She’s at the end of her tether.”
It was made clear by the palace this week that Ferguson will now have to find her own place to live.
“Sarah is very upset, her whole world has crumbled,” Lownie said of Ferguson, who used the Duchess of York title on countless books she has authored. “It would not surprise me if she were to move to Switzerland and live there as a tax exile . . . she loves her skiing.”
As for Andrew, sources said they expect him — a man who reportedly once relished being seen in public — to fade into the background.
“Andrew’s of the age where some men retire ride and play golf and watch TV and spend time with children and grandchildren – what else can he do?” said the royal source.
While American politicians continue to call for Andrew to testify about Epstein before the US House of Representatives’ Oversight Committee, and London’s Metropolitan Police have said they are “actively looking” into claims the former prince tried to use his police bodyguard to smear Giuffre’s reputation, he currently faces no charges.
And though he did settle out of court with Giuffre for multi millions in 2022, he has never been charged or convicted of crimes related to Epstein.
To some, that makes the decision this week all the more shocking.
“I think the move was venomous. He has not been arrested or charged, and he has always insisted he did nothing wrong,” said an insider who knows the former prince. “It just shows how much the entire family doesn’t like Andrew.”
And some wonder if it’s a sign that the other shoe is about to drop.
“Charles was being criticized and royals have to take accountability and he wanted to know things on the head,” Lownie said.
The insider noted there are now calls for Charles and William, who is decidedly estranged from his brother, Prince Harry, to be given the authority to remove titles more easily.
“Harry must be quite scared,” said the insider.
“Tommy Lascelles, who was the private secretary during the abdication of George VI and in the early years of the queen [Elizabeth’s] reign, said that the monarchy is rather like a rosebush — every now and again, you have to cut off a head to keep it going,” said the royal source. “And that’s what they’ve done … they’ve chopped [Andrew’s] head off.”
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