How the Duke's Titles Loss Means for Fergie, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie

Royal Family Members

The Duke's removal from the final remnants of royal life has not only reshaped his future - it's creating waves through his family too.

Sarah Ferguson's New Status

His ex-wife has now surrendered her ducal status and will now be referred to as Sarah Ferguson.

For Sarah, sixty-six, the transition will be the most apparent.

Throughout this period, she has kept the courtesy royal post-marital designation Sarah, Duchess of York. Now, she reverts to her birth name of Ferguson.

"She has lost a certain prestige over this," noted one monarchy expert. "She certainly does use the title – even her Twitter bio is @SarahTheDuchess."

But the relinquishment of her status may impact her much less than the controversy she's facing separately about her own links with Jeffrey Epstein.

Last month, multiple organizations removed her as patron after an email from over a decade ago revealed that she referred to Epstein her "greatest ally" and seemed to apologise for her public criticism of him.

Business Ventures and Philanthropy

Separate from her philanthropy, Ferguson also has various business ventures.

And these, too, are more probable to be impacted by the Epstein controversy than any alteration in status, notes one royal commentator.

But Ferguson has been a remarkable endure in monarchical networks. She's kept recovering strongly.

"She's the ultimate survivor and master of reinvention," commented one monarchy writer.

The Princesses

Princess Beatrice at event
Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie pictured at a Coronation Big Lunch in last year

For Andrew and Sarah's offspring, Beatrice, 37, and Eugenie, thirty-five, there's no official alteration.

They continue to be known as royal princesses, which they have been granted since birth.

There is also no change to the royal succession order.

Andrew remains eighth in line to the throne, followed by his children Beatrice and Eugenie, in ninth and twelfth place respectively.

But in practice their standing are "distant" and will probably become much further down as years pass.

Future Prospects

The princesses are also presently non-official royals, and while they do sometimes take on roles – The younger princess was recently announced as a advisor for the monarch's charity network – commentators also say they "can't see a world" in which they would step up into royal duties.

"Regarding Beatrice and Eugenie are concerned, I think there's an appreciation of the reality that this controversy isn't about them, and it's unjust for it to impact them directly in the independent lives they are carving out for themselves," explains one monarchy analyst.

"Their daughters are most unfortunate victims, they've had to endure quietly and have been composed in their silence," adds another monarchy writer.

Final Impact

In the end, there appears to be little doubt that the person who will be most impacted by these developments will be the Duke himself.

For someone who always liked the trappings of royalty, the ceremony and the pageantry, the loss of his titles is deeply humiliating.

So to not have these, on a individual basis, will really matter.

Dominique Green
Dominique Green

A passionate PHP developer with over 10 years of experience in building scalable web applications and sharing knowledge through writing.