Sarah Ferguson Is “On the Brink of a Breakdown” as Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie Have Been Pulled Into the Family Scandal

As the fallout over the latest round of revelations about Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson's ties with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein continues, the former Duchess of York is reportedly struggling.

Last week, news broke that Ferguson and her ex-husband, Prince Andrew, would both voluntarily relinquish their royal titles and recede further into exile from royal life, as, in addition to no longer representing The Firm in public, the disgraced pair are even said to have also been disinvited from the royal family's Christmas celebration in Sandringham. Ferguson has also been dropped as a patron from multiple charities, including The Natasha Allergy Research Foundation and Prevent Breast Cancer, in the wake of the recent revelations regarding her close friendship with Epstein, according to Express.

Of all the things weighing on Ferguson at the moment, however, at the top of the list is how the scandal is impacting her daughters, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, who were dragged into the drama when a 2011 email surfaced in which Epstein claimed that Ferguson "was the first to celebrate my release" from prison in 2009 and that she visited him in New York shortly after "with her two daughters in tow."

Neither Ferguson nor either of her daughters—who would have been 20 and 19 at the time—recalls there ever being such an encounter, according to a royal source who spoke to The Telegraph.

"I'm told she has been on the edge of a nervous breakdown. I can reveal her older sister Jane has recently flown over from Australia to comfort her in the UK," royal expert and biographer Phil Dampier told Women's Day (per Express). "Sarah is in a bad way and it's hardly surprising. She needed support and Jane has been there for her when she needed it."

Even with her sister's support, navigating the recent round of backlash has been tough on Ferguson, Dampier says.

"She and Andrew know they are to blame but they still feel they are now being kicked mercilessly when they are down," he explained. "It’s difficult to see what the future holds."