Princess Beatrice Could Lose Her Last Remaining Royal Role, Warns Queen Elizabeth's Former Aide
Alisa Anderson says Andrew's arrest is having a direct knock-on effect on his daughters' royal futures.
The fallout from Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor's arrest is no longer just his problem. According to Alisa Anderson, the former press secretary to the late Queen, Princess Beatrice's formal role within the monarchy is now on the table, and the questions being asked about her future are only just beginning.
Anderson made the remarks in the latest episode of A Right Royal Podcast, where she indicated that Beatrice's place as a Counsellor of State, a role that allows her to stand in for the King when he is unavailable due to illness or travel, may not be as secure as it once appeared. "I do think maybe questions could be explored about whether Beatrice remains a Counsellor of State," Anderson said. "And I think that's much more of a formal position that she has. There's no real possibility that she could act in that way, deputizing for the King. But absolutely, just take Beatrice out of the equation."
The context here is important. The current Counsellors of State include Queen Camilla, the Prince of Wales, the Princess Royal, the Duke of Edinburgh, the Duke of Sussex, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, and Princess Beatrice herself. Palace guidelines, however, have long held that only working royals should realistically be called upon to serve in that capacity, which means Beatrice's inclusion was already, in practice, only symbolic. What Anderson is now suggesting is that even the symbolic dimension of that position may come under scrutiny.
On the question of titles more broadly, Anderson was diplomatic. Asked whether Beatrice and Eugenie were likely to lose their titles in the wake of their parents being stripped of theirs, she said, "They haven't been accused of any wrongdoing. You know, maybe misjudgment." Anderson was referring, in part, to the now widely reported emails showing that both women, in their late teens and early twenties, travelled with their mother, Sarah Ferguson, to meet Jeffrey Epstein following his release from prison. "That's not a wise decision," Anderson said.
The shadow of that association is one that both sisters are now navigating in real time. Eugenie, who has built a reputation through her anti-slavery advocacy work, has recently stepped back from one of those initiatives. And the public footprint of both women appears to be contracting more broadly. "Allegedly, they're not going to Ascot this year," Anderson noted. "Of course, they can go as private individuals, but they're not going as part of the royal party. We'll see whether they go to garden parties in the summer. Who knows? They haven't been to Cheltenham this week either, no Commonwealth Day service."
"I've met both women on numerous occasions, and they're charming, lovely, interesting, and smart," she said. "But of course, the saga with their parents is going to have a knock-on effect on their lives."
