What the Duke's Titles Loss Means for Sarah Ferguson, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie
The Duke's removal from the last vestiges of royal life has not only altered his path - it's creating waves through his immediate relatives too.
Fergie's Title Change
His ex-wife has now lost her duchess title and will simply be known as Sarah Ferguson.
For Ferguson, sixty-six, the transition will be the most visible.
For all these years, she has kept the courtesy royal divorcee title Sarah, Duchess of York. Now, she returns to her birth name of Ferguson.
"She will have lost a bit of cachet over this," said one royal commentator. "She certainly utilizes the title โ including her Twitter bio is @TheDuchessSarah."
But the relinquishment of her status may impact her much less than the scandal she's facing separately about her own connections to Jeffrey Epstein.
Recently, multiple organizations dropped her as ambassador after correspondence from 2011 revealed that she called Epstein her "greatest ally" and appeared to express regret for her negative comments of him.
Business Ventures and Philanthropy
Separate from her philanthropy, Ferguson also has various business ventures.
And these, too, are more probable to be affected by the Epstein scandal than any change in title, notes one monarchy analyst.
But Ferguson has been a great survivor in monarchical networks. She has continued recovering strongly.
"She is the supreme perseverer and expert at transforming," said one monarchy writer.
The Daughters
For Andrew and Sarah's offspring, Beatrice, 37, and Eugenie, 35, there's no formal change.
They will still be known as royal princesses, which they have been granted since birth.
Additionally there is no modification to the line of succession.
The prince stays eighth position to the crown, followed by his daughters Beatrice and Eugenie, in ninth and twelfth position in that order.
But in reality their positions are "distant" and will likely become much further down as years pass.
Future Prospects
Beatrice and Eugenie are also presently non-official royals, and while they do sometimes accept positions โ Princess Eugenie was recently announced as a mentor for the monarch's charity program โ experts also say they "can't see a scenario" in which they would step up into official responsibilities.
"Regarding Beatrice and Eugenie are concerned, I think there's an appreciation of the fact that this scandal doesn't involve them, and it's not fair for it to impact them directly in the separate paths they are carving out for themselves," says one monarchy analyst.
"The princesses are most unfortunate victims, they've had to suffer in silence and have been composed in their silence," adds another royal author.
Ultimate Consequences
In the end, there appears to be little doubt that the person who will be most impacted by these developments will be Prince Andrew himself.
For a man who consistently enjoyed the trappings of royalty, the ceremony and the pageantry, the relinquishment of his honors is deeply humiliating.
Therefore lacking those, on a personal level, will really matter.