What the Duke's Removal of Titles Means for Fergie, 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 New Status
The former spouse has now surrendered her ducal status and will now be referred to as Sarah Ferguson.
For Ferguson, sixty-six, the transition will be the most apparent.
For all these years, she has kept the courtesy royal divorcee title Sarah, York Duchess. Currently, she returns to her birth name of Ferguson.
"She will have lost a certain prestige over this," noted one monarchy expert. "She definitely utilizes the title – including her Twitter bio is @SarahTheDuchess."
But the loss of her title may impact her much less than the controversy she's dealing with independently about her own links with the convicted financier.
Recently, multiple organizations removed her as ambassador after an email from over a decade ago showed that she referred to Epstein her "supreme friend" and appeared to express regret for her negative comments of him.
Professional Endeavors and Charity Work
Away from her philanthropy, Ferguson also has multiple commercial enterprises.
And these, too, are more likely to be impacted by the Epstein scandal than any change in title, says one royal commentator.
But Ferguson has been a great survivor in royal circles. She has continued recovering strongly.
"She is the ultimate survivor and expert at transforming," said one monarchy writer.
The Daughters
For Andrew and Sarah's offspring, Beatrice, 37, and Eugenie, 35, there's no official alteration.
They will still be known as princesses, which they have been granted since their birth.
There is also no change to the line of succession.
Andrew remains eighth in line to the throne, followed by his children Beatrice and Eugenie, in ninth and twelfth place respectively.
But in practice their standing are "distant" and will probably become even more remote as time goes on.
Coming Opportunities
Beatrice and Eugenie are also currently non-official royals, and while they do sometimes take on roles – The younger princess was recently announced as a advisor for the monarch's charity network – commentators also suggest they "can't see a world" in which they would advance into official responsibilities.
"As far as Beatrice and Eugenie go, I think there's an appreciation of the fact that this controversy isn't about them, and it's unjust for it to impact them personally in the separate paths they are building for themselves," says one royal commentator.
"Their daughters are most unfortunate affected parties, they've had to suffer in silence and have been composed in their reserve," adds another monarchy writer.
Final Impact
In the end, there seems to be minimal uncertainty that the individual who will be most affected by all of this will be the Duke himself.
For a man who always liked the trappings of royalty, the ceremony and the ceremony, the loss of his titles is profoundly embarrassing.
So to not have those, on a individual basis, will really matter.