Call for Beatrice and Eugenie to be stripped of titles ‘before it ends in tears’
A royal commentator says Andrew's daughters Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie should be stripped of their titles "for the survival of the monarchy".
Failure to strip Andrew Mountbatten Windsor's daughters, Beatrice and Eugenie, of their royal titles could end in "scrutiny, tears and abject humiliation", a commentator has warned. Andrew was effectively banished from the royal family last month, stripped of his birthright as a prince, his dukedom and his home over "serious lapses of judgement" linked to his friendship with paedophile Jeffrey Epstein. His ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, also had her title as Duchess of York revoked, but the couple's daughters, Beatrice and Eugenie, have so far retained their princess status.
Beatrice's last public engagement before her father became a commoner was a conference in Saudi Arabia, hosted at the venue of the regime's 2017 crackdown on dissent, where a number of royals and business figures were beaten and tortured. While the princesses have built up careers as businesswomen in their own right, some think their links to the totalitarian Middle Eastern country carry echoes of their father's controversial tenure as the UK's trade envoy in the 2000s, sparking calls for them to also be excluded from the royal fold.
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Amanda Platell, Australian journalist and Daily Mail columnist, said images of Beatrice hosting a tea party for Saudi investors at the Riyadh Ritz-Carlton shortly before her father's ousting from the firm were proof that rescinding the princesses' titles "would be the kindest thing to do for them ... for the very survival of the monarchy".
"Beatrice's Saudi jaunt proves [that] their HRH status will only end in scrutiny, tears and then most likely abject humiliation," Ms Platell said. "In a modern Britain, it is no longer possible to pursue both royal duty and lucrative business interests, especially where foreign autocracies are involved."
Andrew's time as trade envoy allegedly saw him push the business interests of close friends, including multi-millionaire financier David Rowland, and rack up taxpayer flight and accommodation costs of around £4 million.
"As Beatrice should know from the fate of her parents, you can't immerse yourself in the world of high finance one day and then represent the Royal Family the next, especially at a time of existential crisis for the monarchy," Ms Platell continued.
"I fear she may have inherited her parents' pig-headed obliviousness to public mood, unaware that such ill-conceived events only expose the royals to scandal ... The optics were terrible: Princess Beatrice fawning over some of the state's most wealthy citizens ... at a hotel notorious for being central to the Arab state's violent purge of hundreds of its most powerful royals, tycoons and ministers."
Her father was stripped of his title and dukedom in late October and evicted from Royal Lodge in Great Windsor Park, following fresh allegations in the long-running saga of his ties to Epstein, who died in jail in 2019.
Andrew's conduct could be debated by MPs for the first time this week, with the Liberal Democrats reportedly intending to raise the issue of his Royal Lodge rental arrangements, including details about the size of any payout for leaving the property.
Members of the US Congress have also written to him requesting he sit for a "transcribed interview" in connection to his friendship with Epstein, asking him to respond by November 20.
