This weekend, the Mail published several curious stories about Princess Beatrice, Princess Eugenie and their husbands. I’m already predisposed to believe the worst about Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, but I actually like Eugenie’s husband Jack Brooksbank. Jack seems quite entrepreneurial and focused, and he and Eugenie have always seemed like a real love match and a marriage of equals. Jack currently has a great job in Portugal, a job which includes luxury housing for his family, so Eugenie and their sons split their time between England and Portugal. Jack also owns a liquor distribution business which is apparently going very well (he used to work for Casamigos, so that’s his area of expertise). Well, the Mail says that there are some marital strains between Eugenie and Jack, but it’s mostly about how Jack refuses to allow Sarah Ferguson to come and live with them.
Princess Eugenie’s husband is said to be standing by his wife amid the ensuing Epstein scandal – but refuses to allow disgraced Sarah Ferguson to move into the family home. Jack Brooksbank’s ‘code of honour’ means that the loyal businessman will not ‘completely desert Andrew and Sarah’ but he has refused to ‘step into the line of fire himself’, a close source revealed to the Daily Mail.
‘His first loyalty has to be to his wife and their two young children. The whole sordid affair has already brought them a great deal of unwarranted attention and he won’t do anything to increase that,’ they added.
It comes as Eugenie and Jack’s relationship with the Royal Family has faced renewed scrutiny amid the unfolding scandal involving Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and ex-wife Fergie’s controversial ties to paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein. Now, Jack, 39, a former barman and owner of profitable AEB Consultants Ltd, is said to be concerned about the impact the damning revelations could have on his livelihood, with fears that both he and Eugenie will become ‘tainted by association’.
‘Jack has worked very hard building his business, and it’s going well so the last thing he needs is for the Epstein scandal to taint that. He will do everything he can to keep his head below the parapet because of that,’ they revealed.
Meanwhile, Eugenie, 35, and her husband are also said to be fearful that the storm clouds engulfing the former Duchess of York could see Fergie ask to move in with them – a prospect the couple would not relish.
‘Eugenie and Jack are resisting any suggestion from her mother that she should come and live with them. Because to be frank Sarah is difficult to live with and they don’t want the responsibility of looking after her at the moment. That’s not to say they are not concerned about her welfare – they just don’t actually want her to be living with them, even temporarily,’ a second source declared.
‘Jack has long been well liked by the Royal Family. He is popular and mingles well with other family members at Sandringham at Christmas, for example, and also when he goes up to Balmoral for shoots with them,’ a close source told the Daily Mail. But now, ‘the repeated mentions of Eugenie and her sister in the Epstein files may have moved the goalposts’.
‘There is clearly concern now that Eugenie and Jack will be tainted by association because of her parents and understandably in public the royals are keeping their distance from them. But Jack has his own business interests. He’s not a person who has tried to cash in on his royal connections. He has tried to carve his own path and build his career on his own merits, Jack is glad he has done that and is not dependent on any of them or guilty by association,’ they added.
I’m curious by the sudden focus on B&E’s husbands this weekend, and not only that, but the focus on both husbands’ businesses. Jack is in a much better situation than Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi – Jack is not “the face” of any business, and his liquor company can run smoothly whether or not Jack’s wife’s father goes to prison. I also assume that Jack’s work in Portugal isn’t dependent on whatever happens to Prince Andrew as well. Anyway, it certainly looks like there’s a huge campaign to scapegoat, attack and denigrate Beatrice, Eugenie and their husbands. This piece reads like a warning to Jack in particular.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid, Cover Images and Eugenie’s Instagram.
