Princess Beatrice quietly shaping conversations as royal family faces scrutiny

A journalist who went to visit Sarah Ferguson was surprised to find Princess Beatrice also present at the meeting - and her conduct left the reporter stunned. 

The former Duchess of York and her daughters, along with Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, have found themselves mired in controversy in recent months after all were the subject of multiple mentions in the Epstein Files. There is no suggestion of wrongdoing by Beatrice, her sister Eugenie, and Sarah, while Andrew denies wrongdoing in relation to their connection with Epstein. 

The controversy surrounding their parents has placed Beatrice and Eugenie in a difficult position, and now people who have had first-hand experience of the York family have been voicing their opinions on their conduct. 

The Times’ royal editor Kate Mansey went to meet Sarah to discuss the possibility of doing an interview, but said "to my great surprise, Princess Beatrice was there". 

But it was Beatrice’s role in the meeting that really left the journalist stunned, as she reportedly analyzed everything her mother said before clarifying her comments.

Speaking on the Times Royal podcast, Kate said: "She sat and she took notes. I thought it was fascinating how she interacted, she’s super smart, she was kind of analyzing everything Sarah Ferguson was saying and kind of clarifying.

"Fergie was like: ’I want to come across as this, and I’d like to be known as this, and if we do it I want it to be done like this, and I want you to talk about my work over here with this charity.’

"I was taking it all in, she’s hitting me with this barrage of thoughts and ideas, and Beatrice was to the side. 

"She was analyzing. ’You know just to clarify what mummy’s saying....’ She was very organized, she was very thoughtful and processing her mother’s thoughts in real-time and acting as a conduit."

There has been a great deal of talk about Beatrice and Eugenie’s place in the royal pecking order in light of the scandal engulfing their parents.

This includes calls for them to be removed from the line of succession along with hints that they won’t be showing their faces at royal events where they would normally have been welcome, like Royal Ascot.

According to Kate, her anecdote is now "interesting" due to the accusations of misconduct in a public office against her father Andrew.

She said: "That is interesting now of course because you wonder how close she was to any of the business deals that Sarah Ferguson or perhaps her father was doing at the time.

"Now we know from people who worked on that infamous Newsnight interview that the talks about talks, as journalists often call them, where you have the preliminary chats about the possibility of doing an interview.

"There’s talks about talks that happened at the Palace with Andrew, with Amanda Thirsk, his then-private secretary, and the Newsnight team, Beatrice was there taking notes."

Andrew was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in a public office last month. He was later released under investigation.