Awkward for Andrew as Eugenie sets up podcast on sex trafficking
SHE may have been perfectly happy to be seen in public alongside her controversial cousin Prince Harry in Los Angeles, but Princess Eugenie appears to have developed a reluctance to show similar open support for her own father.
A source tells me that the Princess plans to spend the summer ‘doubling down’ on her charity commitments and will be increasingly visible in her role as founder of the Anti-Slavery Collective as she bids to distance her own reputation from what is left of the Duke of York’s.
The Princess, who has a oneyear-old son with husband Jack Brooksbank, is preparing to launch a series of podcasts in early summer that will feature a variety of guests talking about modern slavery, including sex trafficking.
Her father, pointedly, will not be one of them – and a Royal source confirms that there have been ‘zero’ conversations between the father and daughter on the topic.
I have also learnt that Eugenie waited a full month to see her father again after he settled his case with Virginia Giuffre. She was away with work in the build-up to his settlement, working in LA, and stayed away for at least another fortnight after it was announced Andrew was to pay Giuffre a reported £12 million. And she added an extra leg of holiday on to her work trip rather than flying home to console him.
They finally reunited when she visited the family home, Royal Lodge, last week. But while she was steering clear of her father, Eugenie was happy to be pictured with her cousin Harry, not once but twice, during her visit to LA for the Frieze arts festival.
Meanwhile, her sister Princess Beatrice has been at the centre of Royal life in Windsor, spending time with the Queen at Frogmore House.
A source says: ‘There has been disquiet about a rift between father and daughter and even between Princess Beatrice and Eugenie. There is a feeling that Beatrice is closer to her dad at the moment. But the party line is that any distance between members of the family could never last – they are too close for that.’
Perhaps there can be a rapprochement when Eugenie celebrates her 32nd birthday on Wednesday?