Questions about how much Beatrice, 37, and Eugenie, 35, knew about their parents’ dealings with paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein will certainly give the Prince and Princess of Wales cause for concern.
However, Kate, 44, is believed to have had reservations about Beatrice and Eugenie long before the Epstein scandal and their father’s arrest.
It appears the pair may have made the mistake of crossing Kate’s younger sister Pippa, who the future Queen is extremely close to.
Before Kate married William, the York princesses allegedly snubbed Pippa at a London fashion show for Issa in February 2008.
It is believed that Beatrice and Eugenie categorically refused to make room for Pippa in the front row when organisers asked them to change their seats, as one attendee told the Daily Mail: ‘People remember these things.’
Some said Kate retaliated to the perceived slight by leaving Beatrice off the guest list for an Eighties-themed charity roller disco bash that she and Pippa – dubbed the ‘sizzler sisters’ – organised a few months later.
When an invitation was sent to Beatrice – but not by Kate, sources said – it did not mention the dress code, as the princess was left humiliated amid a sea of neon outfits.
‘Some say there were tears,’ said Catherine Ostler, the former editor of high-society bible Tatler.
Questions about how much Beatrice, 37, and Eugenie, 35, knew about their parents’ dealings with paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein will certainly give the Prince and Princess of Wales cause for concern
It appears the pair may have made the mistake of crossing Kate’s younger sister Pippa, who the future Queen is extremely close to
Rumours of a rift between the York sisters and Kate began in 2016 when a somewhat unflattering picture showed Beatrice and Eugenie glaring at the future Queen as she walked ahead of them at a Buckingham Palace tea party.
But insiders told the Daily Mail that Kate, Beatrice, and Eugenie never really warmed to each other.
The earliest cracks began to show in 2008, when Beatrice and Eugenie allegedly faced off against the Middletons, who were dubbed the ‘sizzler sisters’ by the media.
Beatrice and Eugenie were sitting front row for royal-approved label Issa’s show in September 2008, when organisers rushed over asking them to make room for Pippa.
They allegedly refused, as one source told the Daily Mail: ‘Pathetic, maybe, but however you look at it, people remember these things.
‘They deplete mutual goodwill, if there is any to begin with.’
Kate may have taken the snub personally, as neither Beatrice nor Eugenie was initially invited to her disco-themed fundraiser.
After all, Kate joined forces with Pippa to organise the Eighties bash to raise money for their school friend Thomas Waley-Cohen, who passed away from bone cancer in 2004, aged 20.
However, Beatrice was later photographed arriving at the Renaissance Rooms with her then-boyfriend Dave Clark – but the princess did not follow the disco-themed dress code.
It is believed that Beatrice and Eugenie categorically refused to make room for Pippa in the front row when organisers asked them to change their seats, as one attendee told the Daily Mail: ‘People remember these things.’ The York princesses are pictured at Issa’s fashion show at the National History Museum on September 18, 2008
Pippa was also in attendance – but Beatrice and Eugenie reportedly declined to shuffle seats to accommodate Kate’s sister in the front row
In stark contrast to Kate and Pippa’s shimmering outfits, Beatrice opted for a more demure blue frock that she paired with a jacket and black ballet flats.
Kate, on the other hand, was dressed in a dazzling turquoise top and luminous yellow shorts, while Pippa lit up the dance floor in a black sequinned sleeveless top and matching skirt.
Sources told the Daily Mail that Beatrice was ‘in tears’ because she felt left out.
Kate and William’s 2011 wedding may have aggravated the tension between the trio, after Beatrice and Eugenie’s mother, Sarah Ferguson, was booted off the guest list.
The embattled former Duchess of York had been excluded after Sarah was involved in a ‘cash for access scandal’.
In a sting operation by the now-defunct News of the World, Fergie was filmed offering access to Andrew for £500,000 to an undercover reporter posing as an Indian businessman.
Commenting on her absence from William and Kate’s 2011 royal wedding on Oprah that year, she said: ‘I was not invited, and I chose to go and be in Thailand in a place called Kamalaya and… the jungle embraced me.
‘I wanted to be there with my girls and… to be getting them dressed and to go as a family. And also it was so hard because the last bride up that aisle was me.’
Some said Kate retaliated to the perceived slight by leaving Beatrice off the guest list for an Eighties-themed charity roller disco bash that she and Pippa – dubbed the ‘sizzler sisters’ – organised a few months later
When an invitation was sent to Beatrice – but not by Kate, sources said – it did not mention the dress code, as the princess was left humiliated amid a sea of neon outfits. She is seen here arriving for the bash, wearing a blue frock, with her then-boyfriend Dave Clark
She added: ‘I felt that I ostracised myself by my behaviour, by the past, by living with all the regrets of my mistakes, that I sort of wore a hair shirt and beat myself up most of the day thinking and regretting why did I make such a mistake?
‘Why have I made so many mistakes? So I did spend a good three hours on that.’
To add insult to injury, Beatrice discovered her American beau, Dave, had also been snubbed following her mother’s public humiliation.
A source suggested the tech executive was not invited because ‘William has the Spencer paranoia gene’, adding: ‘Dave is a gregarious, chatty American and William is so private it hurts.
‘He would accuse his dog of being indiscreet if it barked at someone else too often.’
Over the years, the camaraderie between the Middleton and York sisters has ebbed and flowed.
When Pippa tied the knot with James Matthews in 2017, Eugenie was among the guests at St Mark’s Church in Englefield – but her sister Beatrice was a no-show.
When Eugenie married Jack Brooksbank the following year, the then-heavily pregnant Pippa was in attendance.
Sources have also suggested Kate and William could not be more different to ‘party-loving’ Beatrice and Eugenie, implying there was never really any common ground.
‘Beatrice and Eugenie have a very glitzy, international, party-girl streak – particularly Beatrice. They like the deck of a superyacht, a chalet pool, a New York dance floor or a hot new restaurant in LA,’ one insider told this newspaper.
‘William and Kate are more at home among the red trouser brigade of north Norfolk or in East Anglian fields in their wellies,’ they continued, adding: ‘They have no interest in befriending celebrities.’
Another source said: ‘William and Kate don’t appear to be close to either of the sisters. They haven’t got that much in common.’
Kate and William’s 2011 wedding may have aggravated the tension between the trio, after Beatrice (right) and Eugenie’s (left) mother, Sarah Ferguson, was booted off the guest list.
Further, Eugenie’s closeness with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle is said to have left the Princess of Wales ‘cautious’ since Megxit, and Kate is ‘seldom seen’ with either sister, they added.
Any concerns that Kate and William have about the York sisters will only be aggravated by their parents’ continued association with Epstein after he was jailed in 2008 for soliciting underage sex from girls as young as 14.
The release of files connected to Epstein – who died by suicide while awaiting trial for sex trafficking charges in 2019 – contains further damning evidence of their friendship with the billionaire sex offender yet.
Astonishing emails unearthed by The Mail on Sunday revealed Fergie was so desperate to cosy up to the convicted paedophile that ‘she was the first to celebrate’ his release from jail ‘with her two daughters in tow’.
Emails reportedly show the group met at Epstein’s Palm Beach mansion, where the paedophile served vegetable lasagne prepared by a Parisian chef.
The Daily Mail has also found an email from Epstein in 2015 where he told a friend not to worry about meeting Beatrice at an event in Mexico because she ‘liked’ him.
The paedophile famously attended her lavish Victorian-themed 18th birthday masked ball at Royal Lodge with Ghislaine Maxwell and Harvey Weinstein in 2006.
And their relationship is likely to have suffered a fatal blow after Andrew was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office last Thursday.
Andrew, who turned 66 last week, was detained by officers during an 8am raid on his new home at Wood Farm. In events that rocked the Royal Family, he became the first senior royal to be arrested in modern times.
Thames Valley Police confirmed the disgraced former prince had been taken into custody just after 10am on Thursday, marking one of the worst days for the family in recent history.
It is understood the former Duke of York was arrested in relation to allegations he passed sensitive information to convicted paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein while acting as a trade envoy for the British government.
King Charles issued an unprecedented statement confirming his ‘wholehearted support and co-operation’ with the investigation into Andrew just hours after he was detained on Thursday – with Buckingham Palace understood not to have known the former Duke of York would be arrested.
The statement said: ‘I have learned with the deepest concern the news about Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and suspicion of misconduct in public office.
‘What now follows is the full, fair and proper process by which this issue is investigated in the appropriate manner and by the appropriate authorities. In this, as I have said before, they have our full and wholehearted support and co-operation.
‘Let me state clearly: the law must take its course.’
William and Kate are understood to support the King.