Prince Andrew has long funded them, but can the Royal Family protect Eugenie and Beatrice?

Even as Prince Andrew was penning that historic statement on Wednesday evening announcing his withdrawal from public life, the edict had gone out: protect the Princesses.

By any measure, Beatrice and Eugenie have suffered a traumatic few days — from the excruciating Newsnight interview on Saturday to the widespread criticism of their father at home and abroad for his links to the paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

They were, however putting a brave face on it, and were spotted out and about in London this week, Beatrice at a private members’ club and Eugenie at a charity event.

But, with their scandal-prone father having damaged his reputation beyond repair, there is now much speculation about their future.

Just how will the Duke of York’s effective ‘sacking’ from The Firm impact their own lives and careers?

A royal aide yesterday confirmed that Beatrice and Eugenie will continue with a limited number of royal duties as before.

‘The Princesses do undertake a small number of royal engagements each year, as and when asked, and that will continue,’ a Buckingham Palace spokesman said.

So we will see them on the Palace balcony after Trooping The Colour, at a couple of garden parties and the occasional evening reception. But that, it seems, will be it.

Andrew’s years of lobbying for the ‘blood Princesses’ to have a greater role in The Firm — something that brought him into conflict with Prince Charles and his vision of a slimmed-down monarchy — has finally been thwarted.

Now that he has been retired — be it temporarily or permanently — Andrew will not be able to promote his girls in quite the same way any more. ‘The promotion which Andrew had hoped for in terms of his daughters taking on more duties will now never happen,’ a royal source told the Mail yesterday. ‘They will have to focus on the day job.’

That may not be the most enticing prospect for either of them.

For the record, Eugenie, 29, has a role at the Hauser & Wirth Art Gallery in Mayfair. She starts at 9am and leaves at 5pm sharp. 

According to a recruitment website, she can expect to be paid in the region of £32,000 to £34,000. Beatrice, 31, is vice-president of partnerships and strategy at Afiniti, an American software company where she focuses on ‘client development’. Her salary is unknown.

Certainly, these jobs are not enough to keep them in the manner to which they have become accustomed, and Andrew has long subsidised their lifestyles.

Their father’s calamity may have a financial impact then as well as being personally distressing — hence that edict.

A Palace source said: ‘. . . there was a sense of everyone circling the wagons around the girls. There is a feeling that they must not be made to pay for the sins of the father.

‘The Queen is particularly fond of Beatrice and Eugenie, and she respects the way that Andrew and Sarah have brought them up. Even though you may feel that they made such a mess of their own lives, they have been loving co-parents.

‘The Queen will continue to invite Beatrice and Eugenie to Balmoral over the summer and she sees quite a lot of them at Windsor. They, in turn, are fond of ‘Super Gran’, as they call her.

‘The feeling is that everyone wants to protect them from this hurt and from further hurt, rather than dance on their father’s ‘grave’.’

High on the agenda is the immediate dilemma over Beatrice’s wedding. Planning is understood to be well underway for her 2020 nuptials and there was an expectation that details would be announced early in the New Year.

In the light of what has happened this week, any re-run of Eugenie’s ostentatious Windsor Castle wedding last October — a guest list of 800, an open carriage ride through Windsor and a £2 million-plus bill to the taxpayer for security and clean up — can be ruled out.

Critics claimed that the sheer scale of the event was a reflection of Andrew’s determination to show Eugenie’s status as a senior royal (she is ninth in line to the throne).

To be fair to Beatrice, nuptials to rival her sister’s were not something she desired, not least because her fiance, property tycoon Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, 35, was in a previous relationship from which he has a young child.

So her wedding was always going to be less of a public spectacle, say sources. In addition, ‘[her mother Sarah] has got the big wedding out of her system and so [Beatrice] will have it in another much smaller royal chapel or else privately at St George’s Chapel in Windsor’.

York Minster, which last hosted a royal wedding in 1960 when the Duke of Kent married Yorkshire landowner’s daughter Katharine Worsley, has also been mentioned, as has the possibility of a small, informal ‘do’ abroad.

Although the Duchess of York said a few months ago that ‘it can only be in Britain’, recent events may prompt a change of heart. Then there is the not insignificant question of who might pay for the wedding. Prince Andrew receives £249,000 annually from the Queen to fund his private office, and he has also benefitted from many discreet commercial deals over the years, as the Mail reported earlier this week.

Acting as a fixer for a Greek water company wanting to build sewage pipelines in Kazakhstan was reported to have brought him nearly £4 million. But in the aftermath of the Epstein scandal, such lucrative business propositions may well dry up. It’s sure to be a cause for concern for the sisters.

Beatrice lives — at least part of the time — in a taxpayer-funded apartment at St James’s Palace, while Eugenie and her husband Jack Brooksbank, a wine merchant and ambassador for a tequila brand, live in Ivy Cottage, a three- bedroom house in the grounds of Kensington Palace.

That is being rented to them at a ‘commercial rate’, which is said to be around £182,000 a year. It has always been assumed that Prince Andrew covers this cost. At weekends, Beatrice and Eugenie go home to the 30-room Royal Lodge in Windsor, leased at a peppercorn sum to Andrew, where their divorced parents live together.

They call their parents ‘Mumsy’ and ‘Papa’ and are utterly devoted to them both. Eugenie’s Instagram is full of fond tributes to them as loving and kind influences.

Royal Lodge has been the venue for numerous parties over the years which have, at times, descended into high jinks. Mystery still surrounds the facial injury pop star Ed Sheeran acquired in 2016, supposedly after being ‘knighted’ with a ceremonial sword by Beatrice in a party prank.

Eugenie’s 25th birthday party was a landmark fancy dress event, with the Princess as Snow White and seven dwarfs hired to follow her around the marquee.

Away from the jollity of Royal Lodge, both girls enjoy a lifestyle rather beyond what their jobs might afford, including designer wardrobes, frequent holidays and dining out. Both are socially popular, with a huge range of wealthy, celebrity friends. Eugenie, for example, is close to models Suki Waterhouse and Cara Delevingne, pop stars Ellie Goulding and Robbie Williams, artist Tracey Emin and Kate Moss’s photographer boyfriend Count Nikolai von Bismarck.

Beatrice counts Dasha Zhukova, an art enthusiast and ex-wife of the Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, among her ‘besties’.

With adoring parents who never let anyone forget their offspring’s royal status, we can perhaps forgive Beatrice and Eugenie for having a high opinion of their own significance. Privileged and socially effervescent, they are also, perhaps, just a shade naive. In an interview with Vogue magazine, Eugenie described herself and Beatrice as ‘working, young royal women’.

‘My sister, Bea, and I have charities we’re patrons of,’ she said. ‘We also try to support Granny and Grandpa in any way we can because that is what family is for.’

Admirable words and they are both rightly proud of their various patronages. It is to be hoped that their father’s downfall — charities and businesses are rushing to distance themselves from him — does not cause problems for them in their philanthropic endeavours.

A royal source said last night: ‘They are two young women with a real sense of duty and a real sense of what it means to be a part of the Royal Family.

‘[Their mother] has always drummed into them they must say please and thank you, they must always smile for the media, that attention is a part of their position. Smile and move on is the mantra.’

Smiling must be the last thing either feels like doing right now, but no doubt they will soldier on.

Does the Duke STILL not get it? Royal Family step in AGAIN and force Prince Andrew to cancel junket to Bahrain he was about to jet off on a day after ‘stepping back’ from public duties 

Prince Andrew was last night forced to pull out of a work junket to Bahrain this weekend after being persuaded by his family that it was ‘not a good idea’ following this week’s dramatic events.

He had planned to fly to the Middle East to attend an event connected with his Pitch@Palace initiative – less than 72 hours after being forced to retire from royal duties over the Jeffrey Epstein scandal.

But hours after the Daily Mail contacted Buckingham Palace to say it was about to reveal details of Andrew’s foreign jaunt, sources said he had decided to cancel it. 

‘He was persuaded by his family that it was not a good idea in light of this week’s events,’ they said. Despite the setback, he seemed upbeat yesterday. Dressed in a suit and tie, he gave a wave and a smile as he drove away from his family home in Windsor Great Park.

Later his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson was also all smiles as she was seen arriving at Buckingham Palace. Furore over Andrew’s former friendship with paedophile Epstein continued yesterday as:

■The duke walked away from some of his most beloved charities and organisations as he began the humiliating process of withdrawing from public life;

■The Outward Bound Trust said he had stepped down as patron while the University of Huddersfield said he had resigned as Chancellor;

■Lawyers for Epstein’s victims said they planned to subpoena Andrew, raising the prospect he could be questioned under oath about what he knows.

The prince announced on Wednesday evening his intention to ‘step back from public duties for the foreseeable future’ after he was widely criticised for his comments during a BBC Newsnight interview.

He was accused of showing a lack of empathy for Epstein’s victims and no remorse over his friendship with the financier. But yesterday’s cancelled plans to go to Bahrain proved, however, that he still clearly plans to continue working on private initiatives.

A source close to Andrew put a positive spin on this week’s dramatic events, saying: ‘Despite everything the duke is getting a lot of support. The entrepreneurs he helps have been tremendously sweet and kind. This really feels like a witch-hunt. He’d been hounded about this since 2011 non stop. So he’s very positive about it actually. He can concentrate on clearing his name.’

Losing his patronage of the Outward Bound Trust will be a major blow to the duke, who only took over the role earlier this year, succeeding his father, the Duke of Edinburgh. 

The charity helps disadvantaged children through outdoor activities. The University of Huddersfield had earlier stood by the duke but announced he was stepping down last night following an outcry by students.

The Association of Leading Visitor Attractions also announced yesterday that the duke was no longer its president. Andrew is patron of around 200 charities and groups and more resignations are now likely to follow.

It has been made clear that Andrew is very keen to keep his Pitch@Palace initiative, a Dragon’s Den-style scheme which helps find funding and provides mentoring for tech start-ups and entrepreneurs which he founded in 2014. 

The project is said to have created 6,000 jobs over give years and was, one courtier said, one of the ‘few’ real success stories of Andrew’s roller-coaster royal career.

He was fighting ‘tooth and nail’ to keep it – hence his defiance in initially planning to travel to Bahrain this weekend.

Royal officials confirmed yesterday that he would continue working on it but made clear that he would do so without the support of Buckingham Palace. 

While Andrew’s decision to step back from public life means he will no longer be able to pick up the bill for expensive travel from taxpayers, he is still likely to pocket as much as £250,000 a year, the sum he is rumoured to receive privately from the Queen to run his office.

Unlike the Sovereign Grant, which is government money, Andrew’s annual upkeep is paid from the Privy Purse, which is provided by the Duchy of Lancaster – land and assets owned by the Queen.

But, as ‘significant’ controller of Pitch@Palace, he will be entitled to two per cent of any deals made through the scheme for three years, the Daily Telegraph reports.

It is also understood that he will be able to hold events at palaces on commercial bases, with one planned for Pitch@Palace at St James’s next month. 

■More than half the public believe the prince did not tell the truth about his relationship with Epstein during his interview, a poll found. Just six per cent of the 1,600 adults surveyed thought he was being honest, according to the YouGov survey for The Times. Another 43 per cent said they did not know.

Sidelined: Prince Andrew’s top aide behind ‘car crash’ Newsnight interview is shunted into new job running his Pitch@Palace scheme

Prince Andrew’s right-hand woman is to be switched to running his tech awards and business funding scheme, a source said last night.

Amanda Thirsk, who was instrumental in persuading the beleaguered royal to agree to his disastrous Newsnight interview, was told yesterday by Andrew that she will no longer be his private secretary.

Instead she will become chief executive of Pitch@Palace, the prince’s Dragons’ Den-style scheme for entrepreneurs, and the Duke of York Inspiring Digital Enterprise Award (iDEA), which emulates the Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme.

Last night, mother-of-three Mrs Thirsk, who has loyally stood by Andrew for 15 years, was still at her desk and declining to comment.

Buckingham Palace also refused to comment on what it said were ‘private staffing matters’. 

But a royal source insisted: ‘Amanda has been told in no uncertain terms today that she will lose her job [as Andrew’s private secretary].’

A former banker, Mrs Thirsk was taken on in 2004 as the prince’s ‘office controller’. 

In 2012 she was made his private secretary – and gatekeeper. It has been said of her: ‘She is very, very loyal. It is hard to know where she begins and Andrew ends.’