🔗 Share this article

The Duke's exit from the final remnants of monarchical duties has not only altered his path - it's creating waves through his immediate relatives too.

Sarah Ferguson's New Status

His ex-wife has now lost her duchess title and will now be referred to as Sarah Ferguson.

For Ferguson, 66, the transition will be the most visible.

For all these years, she has kept the courtesy royal post-marital designation Sarah, Duchess of York. Currently, she returns to her birth name of Ferguson.

"She will have lost a bit of cachet over this," said one monarchy expert. "She definitely does use the title – even her social media profile is @SarahTheDuchess."

But the loss of her title may impact her much less than the controversy she's dealing with independently about her own connections to Jeffrey Epstein.

Last month, multiple organizations dropped her as ambassador after an email from over a decade ago showed that she referred to Epstein her "greatest ally" and seemed to apologise for her negative comments of him.

Business Ventures and Philanthropy

Away from her charitable activities, Ferguson also has various business ventures.

And these ventures, are more likely to be impacted by the Epstein scandal than any change in title, says one monarchy analyst.

But Ferguson has been a great survivor in monarchical networks. She has continued recovering strongly.

"She's the supreme perseverer and expert at transforming," commented one royal author.

The Daughters

For Andrew and Sarah's two daughters, Beatrice, thirty-seven, and Eugenie, 35, there's no official alteration.

They will still be known as royal princesses, which they have been granted since their birth.

There is also no modification to the line of succession.

Andrew remains eighth in line to the crown, succeeded by his children Beatrice and Eugenie, in ninth and twelfth place in that order.

But in reality their standing are "low down" and will likely become much further down as years pass.

Future Prospects

The princesses are also currently non-official royals, and while they occasionally take on roles – The younger princess was recently announced as a mentor for the monarch's charity program – commentators also suggest they "don't envision a world" in which they would step up into royal duties.

"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 independent lives they are carving out for themselves," explains one royal commentator.

"The princesses are particularly unlucky victims, they've had to suffer in silence and have been composed in their silence," adds another royal author.

Ultimate Consequences

Ultimately, there appears to be little doubt that the person who will be most affected by all of this will be Prince Andrew himself.

For a man who always liked the royal privileges, the ceremony and the pageantry, the relinquishment of his honors is deeply humiliating.

Therefore lacking those, on a personal level, will significantly count.