Oh The Shame! Andrew's Daughters Walk Away

The disgraced prince steps down from public duty

As Prince Andrew sat down for his now infamous television interview on November 16, he thought it was his big chance to clear his name amid explosive accusations he’d had intimate encounters with a teenaged sex slave courtesy of disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.

Instead, four days after the tell-all – branded worldwide as a “train wreck” – he was forced to step down from his royal duties before his controversial friendship with the billionaire paedophile damaged the monarchy beyond repair.

The shock move sent tremors through the palace, but behind the scenes the damage has been even more devastating for the prince, with sources saying his ill-advised interview has dealt a catastrophic blow to his relationship with his daughters, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie.

“It’s deeply serious,” a royal insider tells Woman’s Day exclusively. “There’s a chance Beatrice won’t have Andrew anywhere near her when she gets married next year. Right now, their relationship is in tatters.”

The source dishes that Beatrice, 31, and Eugenie, 29, had desperately tried to talk their father out of doing the sit-down interview with the BBC, warning him that instead of clearing his name it could backfire horribly and bring the whole family into disrepute.

“They went as far as to tell Andrew it could blow their family apart, but he was determined to set the record straight. The girls were heartbroken by their father’s decision to go ahead with it.”

The evening the Newsnight interview aired, continues the source, “both Beatrice and Eugenie were in an absolute state. They were overcome with humiliation and Eugenie took off to New York afterwards to get away from the drama.