Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie turned up at Peter Phillips's wedding on June 6, making a rare public appearance at a royal family event just as attention around their family remains intense. They were among about 150 guests at All Saints Church in Kemble, England, and were warmly received as the day unfolded around Peter Phillips and Harriet Sperling.
That appearance matters because it was their first public outing at a royal family event since Christmas Day at Sandringham. It also came after months of criticism aimed at the sisters, who have stayed close to both of their parents while facing public anger over the conduct of ex-Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson, and over reports that they benefit from rent-free royal housing arrangements despite not performing royal duties.
Richard Fitzwilliams said the setting explained part of the reception. “This was a private royal event, therefore it was natural that Beatrice and Eugenie attended and were warmly welcomed,” he said. Prince William, Princess Kate and other royal attendees were said to have greeted them warmly as well, which gave the day a less awkward public face than the backdrop around it might have suggested.
But the warmth inside the church does not erase the pressure outside it. Beatrice and Eugenie have remained under heavy scrutiny since their father was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office, questioned for nearly 12 hours and later released from a Norfolk police station under investigation. The scrutiny deepened again after Sarah Ferguson's name appeared alongside Andrew's on January 30 in a tranche of Epstein files released by the U.S. Department of Justice, and it has left the sisters in a position where even private appearances are read through the lens of family scandal.
Fitzwilliams put that strain bluntly, saying they are still “in the eye of an unraveling storm, however unfairly, because of their parents.” Beatrice has her own news this year, after announcing in May that she is expecting her third child with Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, but the wedding showed that any appearance she and Eugenie make now will be judged as much for what surrounds them as for the event itself.
