Kensington Palace Responds to Claim That Prince William Put "Pressure" on Cousins Beatrice and Eugenie and Threatened to Remove Their Titles
The Prince of Wales was said to have involved his cousins in the Royal Lodge fallout.
Kensington Palace is responding to some claims about Prince William after BBC journalist Emily Maitlis—who conducted Prince Andrew's infamous 2019 Newsnight interview—suggested that the Prince of Wales met with his cousins Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie amid the recent scandals surrounding their parents, Sarah Ferguson and Prince Andrew.
The prince and his ex-wife are said to be in talks with the palace over their next move, with the couple reportedly agreeing to leave their longtime home, Royal Lodge, in the coming weeks.
Last week, reporters waited outside Royal Lodge for hours after being told to expect an update on Andrew's situation from the palace—but nothing ever happened. According to Maitlis on her "News Agents" podcast, "There was a question over whether there had been, earlier in the day, a meeting between Prince William and the princesses Beatrice and Eugenie saying, 'You guys have to get your dad to move out of Royal Lodge otherwise we will start re-examining the state of your own titles.'"
Prince William is seen with Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice at Royal Ascot 2024.
Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie are seen with Prince William and Princess Kate on Easter Sunday in 2017.
She continued, "They are at the moment allowed to be princesses, but there was a bit of pressure, we understand, being put on the princesses to say this is going to happen. Obviously you can see why Andrew as a father would want to keep their daughters happy and keep their titles in place come what may."
According to the Mirror, Kensington Palace denied that the alleged meeting between Prince William and his cousins took place, adding that to say the Prince of Wales could remove someone's title would be "factually inaccurate."
Maitlis also claimed that King Charles was supposed to be "reading the riot act to his brother" last Thursday, with the hopes that media would capture his car arriving at Royal Lodge.
"What happened, I understand, was that the palace then got very nervous, and when they saw the choppers and helicopters, they thought this has all got too big, this has got out of control, they cancelled the whole thing," she continued. "The King just went straight home and never came by."
