Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie won’t join the Royal Family as it gathers in Windsor to mark Easter.
The princesses and their families have made alternative arrangements and won’t been seen at St. George’s Chapel this Sunday as the royals gather there.
King Charles and Queen Camilla will lead the Royal Family at the Easter Sunday celebrations which will start with attendance at the morning service at St. George’s Chapel.
It’s expected that the wider family will then spend time together in Windsor Castle over the Bank Holiday weekend.
There had been speculation about whether Beatrice and Eugenie would be seen at this first major gathering of the Royal Family since the arrest of their father, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.
He was detained by officers under suspicion of misconduct in public office and was released 11 hours later, without charge but under investigation.
His new home on the Sandringham estate was searched at the same time as was his former residence at Royal Lodge on the Windsor estate.
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was named numerous times in the Epstein files, as was his former wife, Sarah Ferguson. Both have faced scrutiny over their friendships with convicted sex offender, Jeffrey Epstein.
Both princesses are also mentioned in the files which also revealed that their mother took them to visit Epstein after his release from prison for soliciting a minor for prostitution. Both were adults at the time.
The King stripped his younger brother of his royal titles in the autumn with Sarah Ferguson also losing her courtesy title. Beatrice and Eugenie remain princesses and HRHs under the 1917 Letters Patent issued by King George V which states that all grandchildren of a Monarch in the male line can hold those titles.
In recent years, King Charles had invited former prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson to Easter celebrations at Windsor, along with their daughters, but that is now at a close.
The alternative arrangements of Beatrice and Eugenie haven’t been revealed. Princess Eugenie spends part of the year in Portugal where her husband, Jack Brooksbank, has business interests.
Princess Beatrice’s husband, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, has been seen frequently in the US in recent weeks, leading to some speculation about the state of his marriage to the ninth in line to the throne. The couple have since been seen enjoying dinner together in London.
Buckingham Palace only said that The King and Queen would lead the Royal Family at Windsor over Easter – it’s not clear whether the Prince and Princess of Wales will be there along with their children. Prince George, 12, Princess Charlotte, 10 and 7 year old Prince Louis are currently school holidays. George will return for one final term at his preparatory school at Lambrook after Easter and then move on to secondary school in September.
Ahead of Easter Sunday, King Charles will carry out the annual tradition of handing out Maundy Money this Thursday. Along with Queen Camilla he will travel to the cathedral in St. Asaph where he will present 77 men and 77 women with special purses of money. The number of recipients always matches the Monarch’s age. The tradition replaced the former practice of the king or queen washing the feet of the poor on Maundy Thursday, just as Jesus had washed the feet of his disciples.
