Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie will not attend the royal family’s traditional Easter service this year.<\/p>\n
The BBC has reported that the two princesses, the daughters of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and Sarah Ferguson, had made “alternative plans” and won’t be at Windsor Castle on Sunday (local time). <\/p>\n
The gathering at St George’s Chapel takes place every year, with members of the family photographed as they arrive. It is seen as a family event rather than a royal engagement, with Mountbatten-Windsor, Ferguson, and their daughters all attending last year. <\/p>\n
It’s understood that Beatrice and Eugenie’s absence is with King Charles III’s agreement, and does not mean that won’t attend future royal events and “family celebrations”, the BBC said. <\/p>\n
It comes as their parents face mounting scrutiny over their friendship with convicted sex offender and suspected sex trafficker Jefferey Epstein. Beatrice and Eugenie have stayed clear of the controversies and are not accused of any wrongdoing, but were discussed in several emails by Ferguson to Epstein, which were made public by the United States Department of Justice. <\/p>\n
They kept their titles<\/a> when their parents had theirs stripped from them by the King. <\/p>\n Earlier this month, Princess Eugenie stepped down as patron<\/a> of a UK anti-slavery charity. <\/p>\n Mountbatten-Windsor, formally the Duke of York and a prince, had his titles stripped from him in October last year over his Epstein ties and allegations he slept with Virginia Giuffre, one of Epstein’s alleged victims, when she was just 17. He settled a lawsuit with Giuffre in 2022 before she took her own life last year. <\/p>\n In his now-infamous disaster interview with the BBC in 2019, Andrew said he was with his daughters at a Pizza Express in Woking, west of London, the night he was alleged to have had sex with Guiffree.<\/p>\n Andrew was arrested by UK police<\/a> in February on suspicion of misconduct in public office after the emails released by the US DoJ revealed he may have shared confidential trade information. <\/p>\n While Ferguson has been accused of no illegality, her friendship with Epstein has been highly scrutinised. <\/p>\n It was revealed she emailed Epstein about visiting him at his Miami home after he was released from prison and called Epstein a “supreme friend”.<\/p>\n She has been dropped as a patron by several charities, including her own, Sarah’s Trust, which closed in February<\/a>. <\/p>\n