The sisters are said to be “utterly horrified” by the events of last week and were reported to have held talks over the weekend about how to respond to the dramatic developments in the ongoing scandal
Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie held crisis talks over the weekend after their disgraced father Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was arrested on his 66th birthday, it is claimed.
The distressed pair were said to have been “utterly horrified” by the dramatic swoop and the photos that emerged of him being given a lift back from the cop shop after he was released after 11 hours in police custody last Thursday.
And royal expert Ingrid Seward says that both the sisters will have been ‘extremely upset’ by Andrew’s arrest. She told the Daily Mail: “I’m sure they weren’t expecting it. It’s really embarrassing and distressing for them both.”
It comes as their mother, Andrew’s ex-wife Sarah Ferguson, is said to have been hiding away in a UK bolthole after reportedly spending January at the £13,000-a-day Paracelsus Recovery Clinic in Zurich, Switzerland.
Sarah, not seen publicly since September, is said to be “laying low with friends” and “in constant tears” after her damning emails were made public detailing cosy chats between her and paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein after his conviction for child sex crimes.
Both sisters are said to have stayed fiercely loyal to their parents amid the growing scandal, which saw Andrew and Sarah stripped of their royal titles and booted out of their home.
But in the weeks before the ex-duke’s arrest, Eugenie is said to have made the decision to ‘cut off’ her father entirely. An insider told the Mirror: “There is no contact at all, nothing. It’s Brooklyn Beckham-level – she has completely cut him off.”
Meanwhile, Beatrice had been trying to maintain some form of relationship with her dad as she was spotted riding with him and her daughter Sienna last month. The princess also recently invited her parents to her youngest daughter’s christening.
Seward added: “They’ll be feeling incredibly angry with Andrew, and probably pretty cross with their mother as well. Her name has come up time and time again in the Epstein files, and it doesn’t look good.
“They’ll be asking how both their parents could be so stupid. The sisters are the only two who can share this; they are glad to have each other. And it’s not just the emotional side of things they have to worry about; there are financial implications of all this, too.
“This is now a global story and it could have dire consequences for their work, and for their husbands’ businesses.
“All the doubts will have come crashing in -those holidays they had as children, the funds their father put in their bank account, all the lovely things they enjoyed. Sadly, they’re going to start doubting everything their father ever told them.”
Andrew was released under investigation after being arrested by Thames Valley Police at his new Wood Farm home on the Sandringham estate in Norfolk.
He was questioned over claims he shared sensitive information with Epstein while deployed as a trade envoy for Britain. While he was being held officers searched the property and Royal Lodge, his former home in Windsor.
For the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletter by clicking here.