Princess Beatrice heartbreak: Prince Andrew's exclusion from pictures 'cuts like a knife'
PRINCE ANDREW's absence from the official wedding pictures shared by Buckingham Palace following the nuptials of Princess Beatrice and Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi "will cut like a knife", a royal commentator said.
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Prince Andrew and his former wife Sarah Ferguson didn't feature in the picture released on Saturday and Sunday by Buckingham Palace after Edoardo and Beatrice tied the knot in secret last week. The choice of excluding the Duke of York from the collection of official snaps released to the public in the midst of the Jeffrey Epstein case will likely hurt Prince Andrew and his close relatives, according to royal expert Camilla Tominey.
The royal commentator highlights how important a united family has been for the Yorks over the past few decades despite Sarah and Andrew's divorce in 1996.
She wrote in the Daily Telegraph: "Despite their 1992 separation and divorce four years later, Andrew and ‘Fergie’ vowed to remain amicable for the sake of their own two princess daughters - Beatrice and Eugenie.
"So their exclusion from their eldest child’s official wedding photographs, amid a continuing scandal over the Duke’s links to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, will cut like a knife."
Princess Beatrice and Edoardo were initially due to marry in May at the Chapel Royal in London - plans disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic.
Royal experts have been arguing for months Princess Beatrice may have
chosen to organise a more private wedding ceremony than his sister Eugenie to avoid the Epstein scandal taint her special day.
The secret ceremony held on Friday, Ms Tominey argued, gave Andrew the freedom to walk his daughter down the aisle at the church just a few minutes away from his home.
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But the complete absence of Prince Andrew from the official statement and picture shared by the palace is particularly telling, according to the royal commentator.
She said: "Although Andrew was able to put his troubles aside to walk his beloved daughter down the aisle at All Saints Church in Windsor on Friday, that he and his ex-wife do not appear in the images released by Buckingham Palace speaks volumes.
"It seemingly wasn’t enough for the ceremony to be held in secret - effectively sparing the Queen’s beleaguered son from appearing in public.
But the complete absence of Prince Andrew from the official statement and picture shared by the palace is particularly telling, according to the royal commentator.
She said: "Although Andrew was able to put his troubles aside to walk his beloved daughter down the aisle at All Saints Church in Windsor on Friday, that he and his ex-wife do not appear in the images released by Buckingham Palace speaks volumes.
"It seemingly wasn’t enough for the ceremony to be held in secret - effectively sparing the Queen’s beleaguered son from appearing in public.
"The Royal powers that be had clearly decided it was probably not a good idea for him to feature in the historic pictorial record of the event either."
Prince Andrew announced in mid-November his decision to step back from public office after his car crash interview with Newsnight's presenter Emily Maitlis.
The 45-minute face-to-face programme focused entirely on the Duke's association with convicted sex offender Epstein.
The Duke sparked fury as he failed to express sympathy for the former financier's victims and said he didn't regret "as a whole" his relationship with Epstein.
Following widespread backlash and calls for him to resign as patron or head of several charities and universities, the Duke decided to temporarily step out of the public eye.
Ever since, Prince Andrew has been photographed heading to church in Sandringham with the Queen in January and preparing care packages for frontline staff at the height of the pandemic with Fergie.
More recently, he was photographed smiling with his bodyguard as he drove from the Royal Lodge, his home in Windsor.
Prince Andrew has strongly denied any wrongdoings.