Reported Ban of Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie From Royal Box at Prestigious Ascot Race Points to Deepening Epstein Crisis for Windsors

A report in the Mail of Sunday that the princesses of the blood, Her Royal Highness Beatrice and Her Royal Highness, are barred from the Royal Box and royal procession at June’s prestigious Royal Ascot horse race underscores the growing fallout from the association of their father, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, with the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.The ban comes after the arrest of Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor –King Charles’s younger brother previously known as “His Royal Highness Prince Andrew of York” — on suspicion of misconduct in public office. The so-called “Epstein Files” appears to record the erstwhile prince forwarding confidential British government documents to Epstein while he served as a trade representative for the United Kingdom, a position to which he was appointed by his mother, Queen Elizabeth II.Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor has not yet been charged, but his own family — the ruling House of Windsor — has already found him worthy of punishment due to allegations of sexual impropriety while in Epstein’ s circle. Her Majesty stripped him of his major military titles and some royal patronages in 2022. That followed the settling by her son in New York of a civil lawsuit brought by one of Epstein’s victims, Virginia Giuffre. She contended that she was sex trafficked by Epstein in the early 2000s and forced to have sex with Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor. Last April, Giuffre took her own life.King Charles III added to his brother’s humiliation late last year when he stripped him of his coveted title “His Royal Highness Prince Andrew.” The ultra-prestigious HRH title is reserved only for the most senior royals by blood, such as the monarch’s children, their spouses, and the monarch’s grandchildren. The monarch also removed the title “Duke of York,” a title of nobility that stretches back some seven centuries and that has traditionally been held by the monarch’s second son. Charles also banished his brother from the Royal Lodge on the crown’s sprawling Windsor Estate, outside London, to less desirable quarters at remote Sandringham, which is privately owned by the Royal Family.Once Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor lost his royal titles, his ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, who still lived with her former husband, ceased to be known as the Duchess of York, though that title was a courtesy after their divorce in 1996. Untouched, though, were their two daughters, Eugenie and Beatrice, both princesses of the blood, patrilineal descendants of a sovereign rather than linked to royalty by marriage. They retain their “Royal Highness” titles. The King reportedly intervened to protect the princesses, and it was also reported that as part of Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor’s agreement to vacate the Royal Lodge — where he was legally allowed to remain for life — in October 2025 involved assurances that his daughters would not suffer further punishment.Both the former Duchess of York and her former husband, Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor, enjoyed close ties to Epstein. Emails disclosed by the Department of Justice show that he advised her on her philanthropic enterprises, and correspondence between Epstein and her household staff discloses haggling over flight upgrades — for her and her daughters — to visit Epstein in New York after his release from prison in 2009. Epstein agreed to foot some $14,000 for the cost of their flights, though he demurred from granting Ms. Ferguson the upgrade to first class that she requested. After the visit, she wrote him “After your lunch it seems the energy has lifted. I have never been more touched by a friend’s kindness than your compliment to me in front of my girls. Thank you Jeffrey for being the brother I have always wished for.”Now those girls — Princesses Eugenie and Beatrice — are reportedly banned from both the Royal Box and the Royal Procession at Ascot as part of what the Mail on Sunday reckons is “a wider decision to exclude the Princesses from all public-facing events for the foreseeable future.” The princesses, despite being the queen’s granddaughters, were not allowed by then-Prince Charles to be “working royals,” and were supposed to have their own careers, much like Princess Anne’s adult children, who do not have royal titles.Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, though, somehow maintain a royal lifestyle. In 2015, Beatrice took 17 vacations despite supposedly having a mid-tier job at Sony. Beatrice has since married a very wealthy Italian count and Eugenie married a liquor promoter and nightclub manager from a relatively wealthy British family. Both princesses are mothers of two.The Royal Ascot – known for the distinctive hats worn by its women attendees – was a favorite of Queen Elizabeth, and the procession has been a tradition since 1825. Attending the event became a tradition even earlier, beginning in 1711 with Queen Anne. Traditionally, participants in the carriage procession stay at Windsor Castle the night before and have dinner with the family. The event maintains a strict dress code and is the centerpiece of the English summer social calendar. The monarch’s horse can be identified by the royal colors — purple body with gold braid, scarlet sleeves, and a black velvet cap with gold fringe. In 2013 Elizabeth’s filly, “Estimate,” won the Gold Cup. A seat in the Royal Box at the Ascot is highly coveted.The Mail on Sunday also reports that the Prince of Wales, William, “is also said to have advised other royals not to appear in photographs alongside” his cousins. The Prince of Wales, the Sunday Times relates, is eager to accelerate the removal of Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor from the line of succession, where he now sits eighth in line to the throne. The British tabloids, including the Daily Mail, have reported that the princesses gravely miscalculated when they stayed friends with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex post-schism.As The New York Sun reports, removing Andrew from the line of succession would require an act of Parliament as well as the unanimous consent of the Commonwealth countries. After Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor’s arrest Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s chief secretary, Darren Jones, declared that the “government is clear that we are not ruling out action in respect of the line of succession at this stage, and we will consider whether any further steps are required in due course.”

Reported Ban of Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie From Royal Box at Prestigious Ascot Race Points to Deepening Epstein Crisis for Windsors

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