Clutching a takeaway coffee in one hand and her car key fob in the other, Princess Beatrice seemed preoccupied as she emerged from Birley Bakery in London at the end of last month.
Her appearance in Chelsea, alongside her husband, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, and two friends, the art curator Carrie Scott and her partner, Nick Lazarus, was the first public sighting of the royal since her father's arrest.
She and her younger sister Princess Eugenie, who was photographed going out for a coffee in west London three days earlier, are now facing a life in limbo as their place in royal circles comes under intense scrutiny.
Although neither Princess has any formal duties, they take part in carriage rides at Royal Ascot and attend garden parties at Buckingham Palace. Both also have grace-and-favour homes at royal palaces.
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor's arrest last month, on suspicion of misconduct in public office, followed a stream of revelations about him and his former wife, the Princesses' mother, Sarah Ferguson, in emails relating to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Andrew has always denied any wrongdoing.
"Tarnished" Princesses
Royal observers believe that the sisters' privileges may be withdrawn, at least in the short term.
Although witnesses to the Princesses' public outings told HELLO! that there were no clear signs of unease – and indeed that Eugenie seemed relaxed and chatty when she and her husband, Jack Brooksbank, dropped into Hagen Espresso near Portobello Road – it has been widely reported that neither will be part of the carriage procession or invited to join their family in the Royal Box at Ascot in June.
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© PA Images via Getty ImagesThe royal author Phil Dampier and Ingrid Seward, the editor-in-chief of Majesty magazine and a biographer of Sarah Ferguson, tell HELLO! that although the Princesses remain cherished family members, they are too "tarnished" to appear at royal events until after the summer, and may be excluded for the rest of the year.
"I think they have been tarnished," Phil says. "If you remember last Christmas, when they were both invited to Sandringham, they were very much seen as the innocent victims. The King and Queen were metaphorically putting an arm around them.
"I think that has changed following Andrew's arrest and mentions of them in the Epstein files. We sometimes refer to them as 'girls', but they are 37 and 35. Some of the stuff they've been doing recently in the Middle East has not been a good look.
"People will ask: 'Are you trying to cash in on contacts that have been given to you by Andrew or Sarah?'"
Cheltenham Festival test
The next test is the Cheltenham Festival this week. Eugenie has attended the race meeting for the past two years and Beatrice has been a guest in the Royal Box three times since 2022.
The sisters have also been present at the Easter service at St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle twice in the past three years, but are not guaranteed to attend this year's service on Sunday 5 April. In 2025, they and their husbands attended, alongside Andrew and Sarah.
© UK Press via Getty ImagesAlthough Buckingham Palace has declined to comment on whether the sisters will be at Ascot – an event they have both attended many times over the years, including in 2024 and 2025 – royal observers say that their presence would invite negative publicity.
"I would have thought it was obvious that they wouldn't be invited into the Royal Box," Ingrid says. "They're not there as a given and I think it would be very odd if they were there this year. By inviting them [to any royal event], you're inviting the public to comment on them, which puts them in an uncomfortable situation."
Phil says that the Princesses "are in limbo" while questions remain over the extent of their interactions with Epstein.
He notes that Beatrice is evidently close to her father. She was recently named by the TV producer Sam McAlister, who masterminded the then Prince Andrew's infamous interview with Emily Maitlis on Newsnight, as the "rainmaker" who made the interview happen.
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