Royal author Phil Dampier was among those who suggested that the sisters will be excluded from royal events for the rest of the year, despite there being no suggestion of any wrongdoing on their part.
‘I think they have been tarnished,’ he told Hello! magazine. ‘If you remember last Christmas, when they were both invited to Sandringham, they were very much seen as the innocent victims. The King and Queen were metaphorically putting an arm around them.
‘I think that has changed following Andrew’s arrest and mentions of them in the Epstein files. We sometimes refer to them as “girls”, but they are 37 and 35. Some of the stuff they’ve been doing recently in the Middle East has not been a good look.
‘People will ask: “Are you trying to cash in on contacts that have been given to you by Andrew or Sarah?”’ Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor has consistently denied any allegations of wrongdoing.
Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank were most recently seen at Peter Phillips and Harriet Sperling’s wedding in June. The couple arrived with Princess Beatrice and Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi
Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images
Princess Eugenie has also stepped down from her position as patron of Anti-Slavery International, where she has served since 2019. Anti-Slavery International said in a statement to The Observer: ‘After seven years, our patronage from HRH Princess Eugenie of York has come to an end. We thank the Princess very much for her support for Anti-Slavery International. We hope that she continues to work to end slavery.’