Families, especially in-laws, don't always get along. It's been widely reported that certain members of the British royal family have drifted apart in recent years, even beyond the highly publicized drama between William, Prince of Wales, and his brother Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex.
Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie are the daughters of Prince Andrew, making them the nieces of King Charles III and the cousins of William and Harry. Reportedly, there's been some tension between the two of them and William's wife Catherine, Princess of Wales.
The truth is that Kate Middleton and Beatrice's relationship may not be all smooth sailing because of a contentious friendship with one of William's rumored exes. There's also the matter of Kate seeming to take the place and unintentionally steal the spotlight from Beatrice and Eugenie at royal engagements.
However, it's not all drama. Eugenie and Beatrice have shown their support for William and Kate following her cancer diagnosis and have stepped up for the royal family in a big way. Despite that, their relationship with Kate has been full of ups and downs.
In May 2016, Catherine, Princess of Wales; Princess Beatrice; and Princess Eugenie all attended a garden party at Buckingham Palace. In a photo shared by the Daily Mail, Kate Middleton was seen walking in front of the sisters, while Beatrice and Eugenie seemingly grimaced behind her.
At the time, Kate had rumored tension with the royal sisters because they were reportedly friends with Isabella Branson — someone William, Prince of Wales, was speculated to have asked out while he and Kate were briefly broken up. Likewise, Beatrice and Eugenie were also friendly with Chelsy Davy and Cressida Bonas, two of Prince Harry's exes (Bonas is Branson's half-sister, too). Another point of rumored tension between Kate and the York sisters was that royal watchers seemed to prefer the commoner.
An insider from the garden party recalled that several people in the crowd scrambled to get a moment with William and Kate, while Beatrice and Eugenie didn't receive the same elated response from fans (though they still spoke with many attendees).
"As there were three separate garden parties, it might have been kinder to let Beatrice and Eugenie be the young stars in their own right at one of the other two, rather than go around in the shadow of the Cambridges," the source contended. "Few egos are small enough to cope with this kind of thing." Further, another insider asserted that the sisters felt slighted about the way they were overlooked for other official engagements.
Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie were reportedly butting heads with William, Prince of Wales; Catherine, Princess of Wales; and King Charles III as far back as 2022.
In an interview with Express, royal expert Neil Sean shared the inside scoop, revealing, "It stems from the deal organized by William, the queen, and Prince Charles to remove their father Prince Andrew from royal duties following his disgrace in recent years." The trio forbade the Duke of York from being an official working royal in 2020, due to Andrew's controversial friendship with convicted sex offender and trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
His daughters were also reportedly unhappy with Charles, William, and Kate Middleton because the king wanted a smaller working monarchy going forward and it seemed there would be no place for them to have official roles. The sisters' upset feelings signaled another potential problem, too.
"Moving forward, that could be very tricky indeed because they have retained very close relations with Meghan Markle and Prince Harry," Sean pointed out. The relationship that Beatrice and Eugenie maintained with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex was also a rumored cause of tension between them and Kate.
