What Princess Beatrice & Princess Eugenie Really Think Of Their Father Prince Andrew 》

Whenever a scandal happens to a politician or celebrity, we can’t help but wonder how their family feels. It’s one thing for a famous person to bring shame and dishonor to themselves. But how does that shame affect those around them?

That question is especially relevant when it comes to Prince Andrew. The prince has slowly tumbled from grace thanks to revelations about his friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and allegations of the prince having sex with underage women. When one of these women, Virginia Giuffre, sued Andrew, he lost his royal patronages and military titles. And when he settled with Giuffre rather than fight it out in court, many assumed Andrew was trying to keep personal details from seeing the light of day.

Keep in mind, though, that Andrew has two daughters famous in their own right: Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie. How did all of this affect them, and how do these two really feel about their disgraced father? We’ve got the answers to these questions and more!

Andrew’s rough start as a father

The early years of a child’s life are very formative, and this is the best time for parents to bond with their kids. Unfortunately, Andrew wasn’t really around for his family in their earliest moments.

His wife Fergie dished about this in an interview with Harper’s Bazaar. According to her, Andrew’s military service meant he was deployed only two weeks after getting married in 1986. This meant Fergie had to spend the vast majority of her first pregnancy without her husband there to help out.

When Beatrice was born in 1988, Andrew only received 10 days of leave. This meant he hardly got to see his new daughter. To hear Fergie tell the story, Buckingham Palace was not very supportive when she expressed feelings of sadness and isolation. “When he left and I cried,” Fergie explained, “they all said: ‘Grow up and get a grip.'”

Eugenie says Andrew is her ‘rock’

But despite the rough early start, Andrew seems close to his family. Andrew’s second daughter Princess Eugenie was born in 1990, and in 2016 she explained to Harper’s Bazaar exactly how much Andrew means to them. In fact, she described him as “the rock” upon which everyone can depend.

Interestingly, part of what Eugenie values about Andrew is his experience dealing with the media. Unfortunately for Eugenie, both of her parents have experienced many scandals over the years, from Andrew spraying reporters with paint to Fergie getting caught taking a bribe. Still, Eugenie has taken away lessons from her parents’ scandals.

In a 2018 interview with British Vogue, Eugenie said, “We’ve had some serious grounding from our parents. They’ve had their fair share of terrible media interest and it makes us stronger.”

Only time will tell if this latest bout of “terrible media interest” for Andrew will strengthen him as a person or strengthen his relationship with his daughters.

Eugenie’s bittersweet celebration of her parents’ marriage

To say that Prince Andrew and his family have a unique relationship is putting it mildly. Andrew and Fergie separated in 1992 and formally divorced in 1996. However, they continued living together in the Royal Lodge. Their motivation was simple: despite being divorced, the two wanted to still raise their children together.

And it seems that this plan succeeded in keeping the family close. For example, back in 2019, Princess Eugenie made an Instagram post to congratulate their parents on what would, had they not gotten divorced, have been their 33rd wedding anniversary. The post was captioned “Thank you for always being the best of friends and bringing us up together.”

As you can see, Andrew has always been fairly close to his daughters. But those daughters haven’t always been so close with other members of the Royal Family!

Andrew clashes with Charles over Beatrice and Eugenie

You might have noticed that Beatrice and Eugenie are not very prominent royal figures. We see them during certain special events, but they are certainly less visible than, say, Harry and Meghan were before “Megxit.”

Why are they so much less visible than Charles’ children? This is actually due to Prince Charles himself and came from a decision that truly angered Andrew.

Back in 2011, Buckingham Palace removed the 24-hour security protection for Beatrice and Eugenie. They still get protection when they are attending royal events, but the palace determined they didn’t need round-the-clock protection.

According to Women and Home, Charles made the decision when Beatrice was traveling the world during her gap year. He was concerned about the cost to taxpayers of providing extensive security to Beatrice during every leg of her journey. Furthermore, Charles didn’t think these two princesses would be working royals. (And it’s true they ended up getting civilian day jobs.)

But royal expert Angela Levin claimed Charles’ decision to remove security protection for the princesses made Andrew mad. “Prince Andrew was so angry that he wrote a note to the Queen,” she said. “He said he wanted them to be considered as proper royals. He did not want the protection officers to leave them.”

Obviously, the Queen did not cave into Andrew’s demands.

Missing the birth of Beatrice’s daughter

Prince Andrew wasn’t around much for the early days of Beatrice’s life. And in a bit of fearful symmetry, he wasn’t around for the birth of Beatrice’s daughter Sienna Elizabeth when she was born in London in September 2021.

Why did Andrew miss this pivotal event? According to The Sun, Andrew was hidden at the Balmoral estate in hopes of avoiding Virginia Giuffre’s legal team. They were coming to tell Andrew about Giuffre’s intent to sue the prince for both assault and sexual abuse.

Obviously, the prince was eventually notified and Giuffre began her lawsuit which resulted in Andrew settling the lawsuit in February 2022. While Andrew missed the birth of his granddaughter, he ultimately saw her two weeks after she was born.

How Beatrice and Eugenie were affected by Andrew’s sexual abuse scandal

As we noted before, Beatrice and Eugenie were effectively relegated to a minor status in favor of working, public-facing royals such as Harry and Meghan. But once Harry and Meghan stepped back from royal responsibilities and left the country, it seemed like Buckingham Palace might ask Beatrice and Eugenie to step up and take on a more active role in royal life.

Now, after Andrew has been stripped of his royal patronages and settled with his accuser, this seems impossible. Royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams said as much in an interview with the Express, saying it would be “impossible” to expand Beatrice and Eugenie’s roles now and that they were likely “devastated” by accusations against their famous father.

In true royal fashion, the princesses have not publicly commented on this. But we can only imagine there is some resentment towards their father for dashing their chances at the world stage.

The question of Andrew’s patronages

Obviously, Andrew’s alleged actions have seriously jeopardized his daughters’ futures as royals. But there is one last potential bit of salt in the wound, and it has to do with his royal patronages.

In January 2022, with Andrew facing a possible trial, the Queen famously stripped Andrew of his honorary military titles and royal patronages. But even though his case will no longer go to trial thanks to the settlement, his royal patronages are most likely not coming back. According to The Daily Telegraph, they “will never be returned – regardless of the outcome of any future legal proceedings. Instead, they will be redistributed to other members of the Royal family.”

There are about 90 patronages up for grabs, and there has been no indication whether Beatrice or Eugenie will get any of them. If the Royal Family really does want to distance itself from Andrew, it seems unlikely.