Duchess of York’s Epstein ties test Beatrice and Eugenie’s royal paths

New disclosures about the Duchess of York’s longtime friendship with Jeffrey Epstein are testing Beatrice and Eugenie as they balance duties to the Crown with family loyalties. The revelations trace back to a Bahamas visit in April 1998 during the Easter break of their Ascot prep school days, when Sarah Ferguson and her two young daughters met Epstein aboard his private jet, a moment logged in flight records simply as Princess Sarah Ferguson and kids.

Epstein’s influence would extend into the family’s life in other settings as well. He hosted the duchess and her daughters at Balmoral and Sandringham on occasion, and Beatrice’s 18th birthday party in July 2006 at Windsor Castle saw Epstein attend, dressed as a decorated naval officer and flanked by Harvey Weinstein and Ghislaine Maxwell in attendance. The island of Little St James in the Caribbean, nicknamed Paedo Island by critics for the alleged sex parties involving underage girls, is described in the notes as a paradisiacal stop that would later become infamous for the crimes alleged against Epstein. The two girls were nine and eight at the time and could not have foreseen how the relationship would be perceived years later or how it would intersect with allegations around Prince Andrew.

Behind the scenes, tensions surfaced in 2011 when a bombshell email released by The Mail on Sunday showed the Duchess vowed to cut ties with Epstein, stating she abhor paedophilia. But internal messages indicated she later sent an apologetic message to Epstein, describing him as steadfast, generous and supreme friend and claiming she feared he could destroy the York family in a Hannibal Lecter type voice. The emails and the timing raised questions about the extent of the duchess’s influence with Epstein and the timing of any financial support.

In 2014, Virginia Giuffre publicly accused Prince Andrew of having sex with her when she was 17 as part of Epstein trafficking operation, a charge that briefly drew Beatrice and Eugenie into the international spotlight. The sisters responded by distancing themselves from their father publicly while continuing to support their mother. The affair intensified after their father’s 2019 Newsnight interview, which Beatrice is said to have encouraged to defend him, though the sisters later distanced themselves again as the backlash intensified. In 2022, Andrew reached a reported 12 million pounds settlement with Giuffre, despite his insistence that he never met her; the sisters reportedly found the move difficult to understand.

The duchess’s fate mirrors the broader scrutiny of the Yorks, with headlines about mounting debts and financial vulnerabilities that propelled the 2011 email controversy into the present. Beatrice and Eugenie, now mothers themselves, have cultivated a dual identity as working royals with active charitable portfolios. Beatrice, who married Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi in 2020, serves as patron for the Borne premature birth charity, the Teenage Cancer Trust and the Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice, among others. Eugenie, married to Jack Brooksbank since 2018, is a patron of the Teenage Cancer Trust, Horatio’s Garden and Tate Young Patrons, and she co-founded The Anti-Slavery Collective. The sisters have publicly celebrated their mother’s influence while continuing their own philanthropic work, including a May podcast in which they praised their mother but did not discuss the Epstein matter directly.

Royal experts say the sisters face a delicate balancing act between duty and loyalty. Ingrid Seward, editor in chief of Majesty magazine, notes that Beatrice and Eugenie would have known about their mother’s financial pressures and may feel compelled to protect her, even as they maintain their own professional lives. A royal source told the Daily Mail that the sisters aim to support the Crown while preserving independence and the close bond they share with their mother and grandmother, the Queen.

Since the controversy resurfaced, Beatrice and Eugenie have continued to participate in royal events with their cousins and the King. They helped host a Buckingham Palace garden party and attended engagements at Kew Gardens. The King’s Foundation has signaled ongoing support for their public roles, and Eugenie was announced as a mentor for the foundation’s 35 Under 35 network. Observers say the episodes could shape how the sisters navigate future patronages and whether the Crown grounds their independence more firmly.

The evolving narrative leaves Beatrice and Eugenie at a crossroads: preserve the family’s legacy while advancing their own private lives and charitable missions. As they juggle the implications of their mother’s friendship with Epstein, the sisters’ public profiles remain high, and the tone of their future work will likely reflect a careful separation of personal history from their duties to the monarchy.