Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie may have been squeezed off the royal payroll, but the feisty young princesses clearly have no intention of vanishing quietly into thin air. The girls will roar back into the public eye on Thursday when they will whizz through the streets of the German city of Berlin in a Union Jack-branded Mini, as part of a British trade push in the city.
The trip – organized by the British government’s Foreign Office who invited the young princesses to be part of it – will be read by many as a symbolic fightback by the glamorous York girls, who were squeezed out of this year’s Jubilee celebrations when they were excluded from the balcony appearance by Prince Charles, who has let it be known they will have to get jobs and cannot expect to be supported by the royal firm.
A source said the girls were ‘happy’ to be asked to participate by the Foreign Office. The girls’ father, Prince Andrew, who had to resign as trade ambassador after his friendship with pedophile Jeffrey Epstein was exposed, will likely see it as vindication of his belief that his girls still have much to offer their country.
Andrew was deeply hurt by the mean-spirited exclusion of his family from the culmination of the celebrations on the Buck House balcony, and Beatrice was devastated when she was blocked from accompanying Andrew on a Jubilee trip to India. The non-inclusion of a young royal meant Andrew’s Indian trip got almost zero media attention as the graying prince plodded around dusty Indian cities accompanied by just one local photographer.
However the appalling behavior of their mother, Sarah Ferguson, has played into Charles’s hands, making it easy for him to argue that the last thing the monarchy needs is another generation of minor royals being pilloried as freeloaders by the press and the public.
Eugenie has since found work in a City of London finance company and Beatrice is doing work experience in a London art auction house.
However, the pointed messages from Charles that they are no longer entitled to royal privileges have continued – just last month, the girls were informed they would no longer have free use of a royal apartment in St James’s Palace and their father now has to pay rent on it, despite the fact it cannot be commercially let because of its sensitive location. They were stripped of their police bodyguards last year.
The Queen is, however, a huge fan of the girls and has sought some symbolic redress on their part, most notably when she issued a revised order of precedence notice, which informed Kate she must curtsey to Eugenie or Beatrice if she meets them without her husband present, in recognition of their noble birth as “blood princesses” of the British crown. They were invited to spend Christmas at Sandringham with her and accompanied her to church on Christmas day.
A royal source confirmed to the Daily Beast that Andrew had paid for the girls air fare to Berlin out of his own pocket, to avoid rekindling memories of his own controversial tenure as a business ambassador when he earned the nickname ‘Airmiles Andy’ for his extravagant trips.
A Buckingham Palace spokesperson said; “The primary focus of the visit is to support the GREAT Britain campaign to be launched in Germany on Thursday.”
After the Princesses have launched the Mini tour, the British-built vehicle will make its way round all 16 German provinces to showcase the best of British industry, culture, technology and innovation.
The girls will continue their first joint overseas engagement on Friday with a visit to Hanover, the home of their royal ancestors, to promote British brands.