What's next for Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie after Andrew's arrest

As Australia wakes to the news Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was arrested overnight (AEST) on suspicion of misconduct in public office, attention turns to his two daughters, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie.

The former Prince Andrew's very public fall from grace has been in motion for years now, but took a huge turn on October 31, 2025, when Buckingham Palace announced King Charles had initiated a formal process to remove his brother's "style, titles and honours".

At the time, the royal family closed ranks around the daughters of Andrew and his former wife, Sarah Ferguson, but since then, more damning allegations surrounding both their parents, and their links to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, have come to light.

Now, with the news their father has been arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office – again, as a result of his links to Epstein – it looks more and more unlikely they can escape unscathed.

India McTaggart, a royal and entertainment journalist for The Telegraph and a contributor to the BBC, said it was likely the two women will be seen less and less.

"I do think that they have taken, possibly, a step back," she said.

"We understand that Eugenie, for example, goes through periods where she doesn't speak to her parents since all of this unfolded.

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"So we don't know exactly, because they're much more private.

"They're not officially working members of the family [but] they do pop in occasionally for official engagements, and they get brought in by William quite often, but I just think that they will probably want to lay low after all this."

The princesses were included in events with the royal family at Christmas, attending the monarch's annual Christmas lunch for the extended family held at Buckingham Palace on December 16, 2025.

They were also in attendance at the Christmas Day church service at Sandringham.

Weeks after their father was stripped of his royal stylings last year, Engenie received a show of support from her uncle, King Charles, when she was included in an Instagram post about her work with his pet project, The King's Foundation.

"A mentoring morning with HRH Princess Eugenie and The King's Foundation's 35 under 35 network," began the post, which was uploaded to both The King's Foundation and Princess Eugenie Instagram accounts.

Eugenie, 35, was announced as one of the Foundation's mentors in May 2025, and said at the time she was "delighted to be working with this group of exceptional young people who have been selected thanks to their outstanding work in areas The King is passionate about".

But all of that was before both she and her sister became embroiled in more sordid stories linking them to Epstein.

Emails released this month by the US Department of Justice mentioned Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie in correspondence between their parents and Epstein.

One email from their mother to Epstein was sent in July 2009, just five days after he was released from prison, to arrange for herself and her daughters to have lunch with him.

In another email from March 2010, Ferguson told Epstein that Eugenie was away on a "shagging weekend".

Yet another email, in July 2010, saw Epstein ask Ferguson if her daughters would be available to greet his goddaughter while she was in London.

He also asked for the princesses to arrange tours of Buckingham Palace.

Andrew also sent Christmas cards to Epstein in 2010 and 2011, after he had claimed he had broken off contact with the sex offender, which included photographs of the princesses.

There is no suggestion of wrongdoing by the princesses, and Ferguson has said she and her daughters have "no recollection" of the 2009 lunch taking place.

But McTaggart told the BBC the arrest of their father could change their position in the royal family as public outrage continues over their parents' ties with Epstein.

"We see heckling. We see public anger spilling over already that Andrew hasn't been sort of held to account, and that Andrew has not sort of recognised that he misled the public to a certain degree, and to a large degree and his family about his association with Epstein," she said.

"I think that public perception of the monarchy might change in relation to this, because I think they've been seen to being quite reactive instead of proactive about this issue, since [Andrew's] close ties with Epstein have been known for so many years.

"So I do think that it is an issue for them, but how they mitigate the damage control now is going to be interesting."

McTaggart also said it was "absolutely right" for the King to release a statement promising his "full and wholehearted support and co-operation" for the police investigation, and that it should be "full, fair and proper".

"I think he's almost just passed the baton on to officials, to the police forces, and given his full fledged support in saying, you know, bring my brother to justice, if that is what needs to be done," she said.

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