Princess Beatrice was shown making a savage move towards her father, Prince Andrew, in Amazon’s drama, A Very Royal Scandal, released in September 2024, which depicts a dramatisation of what happened on her wedding day on July 17, 2020.
In a strong move, Beatrice asks the Duke of York to step aside while her wedding photos are being taken. The official photographs of Beatrice and her husband, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, only showed the newlyweds, the late Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, and the drama suggests how these photos without Prince Andrew came to be. In the show, Beatrice, played by Honor Swinton Byrne, can be seen posing with her husband, depicted by Giulio Cavazzini, posing outside of the Royal Chapel of All Saints in Windsor.
The princess’s parents, Andrew and Sarah Ferguson, played by Michael Sheen and Claire Rushbrook, initially posed next to their daughter before she asked her father to step aside.
Beatrice said in the show: “Daddy, would you mind stepping aside just for this next? We’re going to take an official picture with Granny and Grandpa. Is that alright?”
Andrew replied: “No, no, no. Ab… absolutely.”
Beatrice then said: “Great.”
The duke is then seen walking away to melancholic music.
The drama is based on the Duke of York’s 2019 interview with BBC Newsnight, which did great damage to the prince’s reputation, saw him talk candidly to Emily Maitlis about his friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Prince Andrew also used the interview to emphatically deny having sex with then 17-year-old Virginia Giuffre.
The prince subsequently paid a financial settlement to Ms Giuffre, formally ending a civil case brought against him in the US.
The out-of-court settlement accepted no liability and the prince has always strongly rejected claims of wrongdoing.