What Prince Andrew's Titles Loss Means for Fergie, Beatrice and Princess Eugenie

Royal Family Figures

Prince Andrew's removal from the last vestiges of royal life has not only altered his path - it's creating waves through his family too.

Fergie's Title Change

The former spouse has now lost her duchess title and will now be referred to as Sarah Ferguson.

For Sarah, sixty-six, the transition will be the most apparent.

Throughout this period, she has kept the courtesy royal post-marital designation Sarah, Duchess of York. Currently, she returns to her maiden name of Ferguson.

"She has lost a bit of cachet over this," noted one royal commentator. "She definitely does use the title – even her social media profile is @SarahTheDuchess."

But the relinquishment of her status may affect her much less than the controversy she's dealing with independently about her own connections to Jeffrey Epstein.

Last month, multiple organizations removed her as ambassador after an email from 2011 showed that she referred to Epstein her "supreme friend" and seemed to apologise for her public criticism of him.

Business Ventures and Charity Work

Away from her charitable activities, Ferguson also has various business ventures.

And these, too, are more likely to be impacted by the Epstein scandal than any change in title, notes one monarchy analyst.

But Ferguson has been a great survivor in monarchical networks. She has continued bouncing back.

"She's the ultimate survivor and master of reinvention," said one monarchy writer.

The Daughters

Princess Eugenie during occasion
Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie pictured at a royal celebration in 2023

For the couple's offspring, Beatrice, 37, and Eugenie, thirty-five, there's no official alteration.

They continue to be referred to as royal princesses, which they have been entitled to since birth.

There is also no change to the line of succession.

Andrew remains eighth in line to the throne, followed by his children Beatrice and Eugenie, in ninth and twelfth position respectively.

But in reality their standing are "low down" and will likely become even more remote as years pass.

Coming Opportunities

Beatrice and Eugenie are also presently non-official royals, and while they do sometimes take on roles – Princess Eugenie was recently named as a mentor for the monarch's charity network – commentators also suggest they "don't envision a world" in which they would advance into official responsibilities.

"Regarding Beatrice and Eugenie go, I think there's an understanding of the reality that this controversy isn't about them, and it's not fair for it to impact them personally in the independent lives they are building for themselves," says one royal commentator.

"Their daughters are most unfortunate affected parties, they've had to suffer in silence and have been composed in their reserve," adds another royal author.

Final Impact

Ultimately, there appears to be minimal uncertainty that the person who will be most impacted by all of this will be Prince Andrew himself.

For someone who consistently enjoyed the trappings of royalty, the pomp and the ceremony, the relinquishment of his honors is profoundly embarrassing.

So to not have those, on a personal level, will really matter.

Jennifer Watson
Jennifer Watson

A cloud architect with over a decade of experience in designing scalable systems and mentoring teams on cloud-native technologies.