Even before then-Kate Middleton married Prince William, there were rumors about Kate being mean or cruel to Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie. There was once a rumor that Kate (then just a royal girlfriend) made one of the princesses cry at a public event. In the early days of Kate’s marriage, she never seemed particularly warm or friendly to Beatrice and Eugenie, and we’ve learned, over the years, that Kate is something of a Mean Girl to many women in the royal orbit. Still, Beatrice and Eugenie have at times shown some friendliness towards William and Kate. The York princesses have both attended Kate’s Christmas concert in years past (they skipped in 2025 though) and William invited B&E to a palace garden party he hosted in 2024. So, I would say that there’s a lot of back-and-forth about whether the Yorks and the Waleses actually get along. These days, as the Epstein Files reveal more and more about the Yorks, it seems William and Kate want to act like they’ve ALWAYS hated Beatrice and Eugenie and they always will.
The Epstein Files could put further strain on an already uneasy relationship between the Prince and Princess of Wales and Beatrice and Eugenie – with tensions between the four existing long before the latest revelations. The most recent tranche of documents has raised serious questions about how much the two Princesses knew about their parents’ dealings with the paedophile financier. One email sent by Epstein in 2015 – after he was convicted for soliciting sex from girls as young as 14 – boasted to a friend that Beatrice ‘liked’ him.
After King Charles stripped Andrew, 65, of all his military and royal titles, experts have suggested the Prince of Wales might take the same hard-line approach with his cousins. William, 43, will be watching closely as the Epstein Files continue to be made public while evaluating Beatrice and Eugenie’s future within the Firm – especially considering his wife’s frosty relationship with them.
‘William and Kate don’t appear to be close to either of the sisters. They haven’t got that much in common,’ a source told the Daily Mail.
Eugenie’s closeness with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle is said to have left the Princess of Wales ‘cautious’ since Megxit, and Kate is ‘seldom seen’ with either sister, they added.
In 2016, a photograph of the sisters trailing in the wake of Kate at a Buckingham Palace garden party made headlines, particularly because the Princesses were giving her, what appeared to be, some rather chilly looks.
‘William has made a point of inviting Beatrice and Eugenie, and other cousins, to help him host a Buckingham Palace garden party once a year. But there’s no sign of him ever wanting his cousins to be taxpayer-funded working royals. That’s been made pretty clear,’ the Daily Mail’s royal source said. ‘Eugenie, particularly, seems to be closer to Harry than she is to William.’
Royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams said: ‘We know that the sisters, especially Eugenie, were friendly with the Sussexes, though reports vary as to whether this remains the case. It is therefore unsurprising that Catherine appears to have been cautious in her relations with them. The sisters face an enormous challenge, being happily married, well adjusted and with careers, but clearly wanting to do more charity work as princesses. However, their parents are engulfed in a very serious crisis which may prove absolutely cataclysmic’.
Mr Fitzwilliams added: ‘Andrew’s alibi on Newsnight of celebrating Beatrice’s 13th birthday at the now infamous Pizza Express in Woking involved her in the Newsnight interview. Reports have indicated that she favoured it. Catherine will have noted the problems the sisters face, no doubt with some sympathy, but will undoubtedly also be wary, given the sensitivity of their current situation. Whatever the nature of the relationship between them, it is unlikely we will see them together with her very soon.’
The sense I’m getting is that William and Kate want to position themselves as “always right” and “having incredible foresight about various royals’ characters, which is why Will and Kate preemptively treated the Yorks and Sussexes like sh-t.” When the truth is, there’s plenty of evidence that William and Kate have, at times, been more than happy to use Prince Andrew and his daughters as cudgels against Prince Harry and Meghan. William was happy to hang out with the Yorks and Kate was happy to invite Beatrice and Eugenie to her Christmas piano recitals when the message was “we’re all united against the Sussexes.” But sure, I’ll buy that Kate has always been bitchy and mean towards Beatrice & Eugenie. But that doesn’t prove what they think it does.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.
