'The Tripod has collapsed': That's how Sarah, Beatrice and Eugenie described their bond. But now insiders say the princesses are more disappointed in their mother than their father, writes REBECCA ENGLISH.
The message was short but to the point: 'The tripod has collapsed'.
Let me explain.
Famously close, 'the tripod' is the nickname used by Sarah Ferguson and her daughters, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, to describe their mutually supportive relationship.
'Mummy, Bea and I call ourselves "the tripod". They are my best friends in the world,' gushed Eugenie in an interview in 2008.
Sadly for the two princesses – who retain both their HRH titles and membership of the 'House of York' because the King is keen to ensure his nieces are not tainted by the 'sins of the father' – recent events have inevitably placed a strain on family relations.
Not on the sisters' relationship with their father, though, I am told.
In fact multiple sources tell me both princesses have gone out of their way to strongly support beleaguered Andrew in recent weeks.
Both girls are said to be deeply worried about his mental wellbeing, with Andrew having become a virtual recluse at Royal Lodge.
Indeed, my contacts tell me it is actually the former Duchess of York's relationship with her daughters that has come under most strain. In particular the girls were said to have been deeply shocked by the publication in The Mail on Sunday of an email sent by Sarah to convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein apologising for calling him 'the P word' in an interview distancing herself from him in 2011.
In public Sarah called her involvement with Epstein a 'gigantic error of judgement' and said she abhorred paedophilia and any sexual abuse of children. She also apologised for borrowing money from him at the time to settle her spiralling personal debts.
In private she emailed him shortly afterwards, however, strongly distancing herself from the remarks and calling him a 'supreme friend'.
'I know you feel hellaciously let down by me,' she said. 'You have always been a steadfast, generous and supreme friend to me and my family.'
While Sarah's spokesman subsequently claimed she had only written the email on 'legal' advice after being threatened by Epstein, the excuse has rung hollow.
And the revelations have caused severe embarrassment to her daughters, particularly Eugenie, 35, who has diligently worked to highlight the plight of modern day trafficking with her charity The Anti-Slavery Collective.
'Beatrice and Eugenie are lovely girls and they have been left bereft by this all,' a family friend tells me. 'I would actually go so far as to say that they are even more disappointed in their mother than their father now.
'The tripod has collapsed. Obviously they will continue to support their parents, but they feel so let down.
'They are genuinely fearful for their father and have grave concerns about what he will do for the rest of his life.
'They also love their mother dearly, of course they do. She's a wonderful grandmother, too, and they are deeply concerned about how this is all affecting her mentally as much as their father.
'But I think it's fair to say the scales have also somewhat fallen from their eyes.'
So where do recent events leave the House of York, which could previously trace its illustrious history back to the late 1300s (and since the 15th century has traditionally been given to the second son of the sovereign).
Sources clearly close to Andrew insisted to the Telegraph yesterday that he was 'sanguine' about the dramatic change in his circumstances. They described recent moves by the King as an almost intolerable 'slicing away' of his life but, remarkably, suggested there was a sense of relief he was now able to start afresh.
It was also suggested that he felt no particular affinity for Windsor, despite living in grandeur there for most of his adult life, and had happy family memories of Sandringham with his parents.
Remarkably the sources also pointedly claimed that Andrew had 'always done what has been demanded of him by the Royal household', stressing that he had never criticised his brother either in public or in private.
They even maintained the former prince had effectively fallen on his sword by agreeing to settle with Mrs Giuffre to avoid overshadowing the late Queen's Platinum Jubilee celebrations, even though he knew this would be interpreted in public as an admission of guilt.
Tags: Queen, Prince Charles, Camilla, Prince Louis, Prince William and Kate Middleton, Prince Charles, Prince Harry, Meghan, Lilibet
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