Princess Beatrice sat in on a meeting arranged by her mother Sarah Ferguson (Image: Dave Benett/Getty Images)
A journalist attending a meeting with Sarah Ferguson received an unexpected surprise when Princess Beatrice turned up – and the royal’s behaviour left the reporter astounded.
The former Duchess of York and her daughters, alongside Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, have become embroiled in controversy in recent months following numerous references to them in the Epstein Files. There is no suggestion of wrongdoing by Beatrice, her sister Eugenie and Sarah, whilst Andrew denies wrongdoing in relation to their connection with Epstein.
The scandal surrounding their parents has put Beatrice and Eugenie in an awkward situation, and now individuals who have encountered the York family first-hand have been sharing their views on their behaviour.
Kate Mansey, royal editor at The Times, arranged to meet Sarah to explore the prospect of conducting an interview, but revealed “to my great surprise, Princess Beatrice was there”.
However, it was Beatrice’s involvement during the discussion that truly astonished the journalist, as she apparently scrutinised every statement her mother made whilst providing clarification on her remarks, reports the Mirror.
Princess Beatrice, Sarah Ferguson and Princess Eugenie (Image: Getty Images Europe)
Speaking on the Times Royal podcast, Kate said: “She sat and she took notes. I thought it was fascinating how she interacted, she’s super smart, she was kind of analysing everything Sarah Ferguson was saying and kind of clarifying.
“Fergie was like: ‘I want to come across as this, and I’d like to be known as this, and if we do it I want it to be done like this, and I want you to talk about my work over here with this charity.’
“I was taking it all in, she’s hitting me with this barrage of thoughts and ideas, and Beatrice was to the side.
The York sisters and their mother have all been mentioned in the Epstein Files(Image: Getty Images)
“She was analysing. ‘You know just to clarify what mummy’s saying….’ She was very organised, she was very thoughtful and processing her mother’s thoughts in real-time and acting as a conduit.”
There has been considerable speculation regarding the position of Beatrice and Eugenie within the royal hierarchy, particularly given the controversy surrounding their parents.
This includes suggestions for their removal from the line of succession, along with indications that they may not appear at royal events where they would typically be present, such as Royal Ascot.
Kate finds her anecdote now “interesting” in light of the allegations of misconduct in a public office against their father Andrew.
Princess Beatrice (left) analysed everything her mother said at the meeting(Image: Dave Benett/Getty Images for The Anti Slavery Collective)
She commented: “That is interesting now of course because you wonder how close she was to any of the business deals that Sarah Ferguson or perhaps her father was doing at the time.
“Now we know from people who worked on that infamous Newsnight interview that the talks about talks, as journalists often call them, where you have the preliminary chats about the possibility of doing an interview.
“There’s talks about talks that happened at the Palace with Andrew, with Amanda Thirsk, his then-private secretary, and the Newsnight team, Beatrice was there taking notes.”
Andrew was apprehended last month on suspicion of misconduct in a public office. He was subsequently released under investigation.