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Prince William is said to favor a tougher line on his uncle, the former Prince Andrew, following his arrest
King Charles remains “very fond” of Andrew’s daughters, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie
The sisters may now face new royal boundaries amid the fallout from their parents’ controversies
As the fallout from the arrest of the former Prince Andrew continues to reverberate through the royal family, attention is increasingly turning to the future of his daughters, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie.
The former Duke of York, 66, was arrested on Feb. 19 and detained for 11 hours on suspicion of misconduct in public office linked to allegations that he improperly shared information with Jeffrey Epstein during his time as the U.K.’s trade envoy. He was later released under investigation.
While King Charles, 77, is said to remain “very fond” of his nieces, royal watchers say the monarchy may gradually place greater distance between the working royal family and the York branch.
Prince William, 43, has long been seen as favoring a tougher approach toward his uncle.
“William wants it all cleaned out before he gets [on the throne],” royal biographer Andrew Lownie tells PEOPLE in this week’s cover story. “He wants it dealt with now.”
That boundary is starting to show as the sisters have increasingly found their position complicated by the controversies surrounding their parents.
The release of new Epstein-related material by the U.S. Department of Justice has sharpened questions about what Beatrice and Eugenie themselves knew. The sisters appear in the files, which reference a lunch with Epstein alongside their mother at his Palm Beach, Fla., mansion just days after his 2009 release from prison for solicitation of a minor. Emails cited in the material further allege that Epstein sought palace tours from the sisters for acquaintances.
The Daily Mail reported on March 1 that Beatrice and Eugenie have been banned from attending Royal Ascot this spring — one of the most visible events on the royal calendar and a fixture the sisters have historically attended alongside senior members of the family.
Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie in 2022
Credit: Tim Rooke/Shutterstock
Royal historian Ingrid Seward says the fallout is already affecting how the princesses are perceived.
“They are tarnished by this,” she tells PEOPLE. “It has affected their lives a great deal.”
Both sisters, who are mothers of two, have careers of their own — Beatrice, 37, in international tech and Eugenie, 35, in the high-end art world —however, Lownie notes, it’s impossible to ignore the impact of their royal status. “Their jobs in client relations are based on being princesses,” he says.
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Against that backdrop, the sisters spent Christmas Day in 2025 with their uncle King Charles and other members of the royal family rather than with their parents — a move observers say reflected the delicate balance they are trying to maintain.
“They’re caught between a rock and a hard place over loyalty to their parents and their future,” Lownie says.
Read the original article on People
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source uk.news.yahoo.com ’
