Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie are ending 2026 with another reputational setback, as a new YouGov royal favourability survey shows both women now have net negative scores. Beatrice is liked by 29% of people but disliked by 31%, giving her a net score of -2, while Eugenie is liked by 28% and disliked by 31%.
The poll marks only a two-point improvement for both sisters since July, following a 17-point plunge in their ratings during the summer. The results suggest that even the joyful pictures of Eugenie's family celebrating the naming of her newborn daughter Adelaide did nothing to boost her standing.
Fallout from the Epstein Files
The latest damage follows a year in which the sisters' parents, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and Sarah Ferguson, lost their Duke and Duchess of York titles. Both had stayed friends and in communication with convicted paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein after his 2008 admission and conviction in the US over soliciting a child for prostitution.
The Epstein Files, released in January by US prosecutors, revealed that in 2010 - two years after Epstein pleaded guilty to that offence - Ferguson emailed him with praise and even begged him: "Marry me!" Andrew and Ferguson have both strenuously denied any wrongdoing regarding their friendship with Epstein.
Andrew's arrest and loss of Royal Lodge
Andrew has also been forced out of his 30-room luxury Royal Lodge mansion in Windsor and moved to the King's own Sandringham Estate, out of public view. On his 66th birthday, he was arrested and is now being investigated on suspicion of misconduct in a public office.
An old photograph of Andrew kneeling on all fours over a female lying on the ground, unearthed again in the Epstein Files, has added to the family's embarrassment.
Limited royal appearances and uncertain Christmas
The only royal occasion the princesses have recently attended was the wedding of Peter Phillips to Harriet Sperling on June 6. The question now is whether they will even be invited to spend Christmas at Sandringham this year, as they did last year.
Both women must be realising by now that they cannot wholly extricate their fates - or their reputations - from their parents' reckless past, with Andrew and Ferguson acting like millstones round their daughters' necks.
