They were at the King's side at Sandringham over Christmas and are usually regular fixtures at the Easter Sunday service at Windsor each year.
But it looks increasingly unlikely that we will see Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie – who, it was revealed over the weekend, has stepped down from her anti-slavery charity – join the rest of the royal family at a public engagement anytime soon.
The daughters of disgraced Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and Sarah Ferguson have, until recently, remained close to the King and his family, in spite of the various scandals surrounding their parents.
But with questions now being asked about their own interaction with the convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein and renewed focus on their business and charity dealings in the UK and overseas, the royal sisters find themselves in the eye of the storm.
It seems obvious that they might not attend major society events such as Cheltenham or Royal Ascot, while trouble continues to swirl. But what could the longer term implications be for the King's nieces?
© Max Mumby/IndigoLife of privilege
Until now, their lives have been replete with royal privilege. Their HRH and Princess titles have no doubt opened many doors for them and while they have done valuable charity work over the years, they have doubtless also benefited enormously from their royal connections.
There is no suggestion of any wrongdoing by either Beatrice or Eugenie, nor have their parents been found guilty of anything by a court of law.
But the inclusion of their names in the Epstein files has made for deeply uncomfortable reading. Emails contained in the files suggest that the Princesses not only visited the disgraced financier with their mother Sarah Ferguson days after his release from a prison term for soliciting a minor for prostitution, but were also asked to show some of his acquaintances around Buckingham Palace.
Questions are now being asked about how they may have benefitted from their parents' connections over the years.
Grace-and-favour homes
It follows, too, that further questions may soon be asked about their grace-and-favour accommodation within royal residences.
The sisters shared an apartment within St James's Palace until 2017, which Beatrice is believed to still use as a London base. Eugenie moved to Ivy Cottage, in the grounds of Kensington Palace, following her marriage to Jack Brooksbank in 2018.
Both now have families of their own and other homes elsewhere. Beatrice and her husband Edoardo Mapelli-Mozzi live in the Cotswolds, while Eugenie and Jack divide their time between London and Portugal, where Jack works for a property development firm.
But as non-working members of the royal family, should they automatically be given royal accommodation?
There is plenty of precedent for it. Other non-working royals have long been allowed to live within Palace walls. Prince and Princess Michael of Kent, for example, have continued to live at Apartment 10 at Kensington Palace, having stepped back from public life in 2022 and despite not officially working on behalf of the institution or receiving funding from the Sovereign Grant.
But this has been done at the discretion of the monarch. The late Queen covered her cousins' £10,000-a-month rent when they were forced to pay a market rate for the property in 2002, having paid a so-called "peppercorn" sum until then.
Late in 2025 it emerged that Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor had paid less than £20,000 a year for his daughters' apartment at St James's Palace, well below the annual market rate of £240,000.
This matters because the properties are managed by the Crown Estate – as part of a portfolio inherited by the monarch "in right of the Crown". The net profits of the Estate are surrendered to the Treasury each year, and in return, the monarchy receives the Sovereign Grant, which is calculated as a percentage of those net profits.
In short, paying less than the market rate is arguably doing the public out of money that could be spent elsewhere.
Government inquiry
The issue is already the focus of an inquiry by the Government's Public Accounts Committee, which was announced last October when it emerged that Andrew had also been paying a peppercorn rent on Royal Lodge. After paying a £1million sum for the 75-year lease, he effectively lived rent free there for two decades. He was eventually forced out in February, moving to Sandringham, where he will live at the modest Marsh Farm once renovations are complete.
The Committee is now looking at all lease arrangements for properties within the Crown Estate, including Bagshot Park, where the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh live and Forest Lodge, home of the Prince and Princess of Wales. William and Catherine are understood to be paying market rent on the eight-bedroom property.
The outcome of their inquiry could determine whether Beatrice and Eugenie retain their rental properties at the heart of the royal palaces.
Both have independent income from their business interests and their husbands are independently wealthy. But it's not clear whether they could cover the cost of full market-value rents if required to do so.
© Samir Hussein/WireImageThe same question may of course be asked of other family members who also benefit from the set up.
The King may of course decide to subsidise his relatives with his own money, if it comes to that, as his mother did before him. But he would do well to allow greater transparency in general around royal finances, which have been shrouded in mystery for so long.
If Charles, and indeed his heir William, are as serious about restoring trust in the institution as they appear to be, they need to open up.
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