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Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie faced a difficult decision about where to spend Christmas amid the royal fallout surrounding their parents, the former Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson
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“They live and die by the monarchy, so this didn’t surprise me at all,” a family friend tells PEOPLE
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Defying expectations, Princess Beatrice, 37, and Princess Eugenie, 35, joined the royal family for church on the holiday amid their parents’ recent scandal
Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie faced a difficult decision about where to spend Christmas amid the royal fallout surrounding their parents, the former Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson.
Princess Beatrice, 37, and Princess Eugenie, 35, joined King Charles, Queen Camilla, Prince William, Kate Middleton and more family members for church at Sandringham on Christmas morning. The sisters’ participation in the royal family’s most public holiday ritual visibly aligned them with the monarchy as their parents spent Christmas privately, 140 miles away at Royal Lodge in Windsor.
While Andrew, 65, and Ferguson, 66, were banished from the gathering amid fallout around renewed interest in his ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, a family friend says the former couple supported their daughters joining the royals on Christmas.
“They live and die by the monarchy, so this didn’t surprise me at all. And Andrew and Sarah would have 1,000 percent supported it,” the friend exclusively tells PEOPLE.
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King Charles leads the royal family at Sandringham on Dec. 25, 2025.
“Sarah has always said her greatest gift to the monarchy was her girls. She’s going to still hold her allegiance to the Crown,” they added about Ferguson.
Royal biographer Robert Jobson agrees that it was the right move for Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie to honor King Charles’ invitation on Christmas, showing loyalty amid the turmoil.
“They did the right thing – showing loyalty to King Charles and to the Crown. It’s easy to say this is a snub, but they would say, ‘I’m a royal princess, I’m in line to the throne, I have been invited to attend the King’s Christmas celebrations and you don’t turn down the King’s invitation,’ ” says Jobson, whose latest book, Windsor Legacy, was published on Jan. 6.
“If you have an invitation, you go. It’s not an invitation – it’s a command, really,” he says.
Pegusus
“The Windsor Legacy” by Robert Jobson.
Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie’s united front with their husbands on Christmas underscored the difficult situation the sisters face: how to remain publicly aligned with the Crown while privately navigating family strain.
The sisters stepped out together while their parents marked the holiday at Royal Lodge, the family’s longtime home that Andrew was ordered to move out of when his titles and royal privileges were removed.
Andrew and Ferguson’s Christmas there was expected to be their last at Royal Lodge, sparking speculation that their daughters might join them then. However, royal historians and insiders say that Beatrice and Eugenie’s decision was less about choosing sides than walking a careful line.
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Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice at Sandringham on Dec. 25, 2025.
A week before the holiday, Andrew’s daughters attended King Charles’ Christmas luncheon at Buckingham Palace on Dec. 16, 2025, another family gathering that their father was shut out from. Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie were all smiles as they drove together, creating a sense of solidarity. The royal sisters had been mostly lying low since the scandal around their father unfolded in October, keeping a quiet profile.
“They’ve been very low-key lately and not at many of the usual social events,” says a source. “They’re really just keeping to close, family-only celebrations.”
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Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie attend King Charles’ Christmas lunch at Buckingham Palace on Dec. 16, 2025
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As a unit, Andrew and Sarah’s family reemerged at the christening of Beatrice’s daughter Athena at St. James’s Palace on Dec. 12, but the former Duke and Duchess of York deliberately avoided attention. Andrew and Sarah arrived and left discreetly, were not photographed with Beatrice and skipped the after-party that followed at a pub in central London.
For Beatrice and Eugenie, the calculus is no longer just institutional — it’s also deeply personal.
“They’ve found love and happiness in their lives. They have families themselves. That’s what they really want to focus on,” says Jobson. “Unfortunately, their father and mother bring drama to their lives.”
Read the original article on People