PHIL DAMPIER OPINION
The contrast couldn’t have been more stark.
While Princesses Bea and Eugenie were back in the royal fold, their father Andrew was out in the cold.
The York sisters were invited to Buckingham Palace for a traditional pre-Christmas lunch, along with more than fifty relatives, while Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was photographed soaked to the skin riding at Windsor.
And I’m told by a good source the welcome at the event was a sure sign the King and Prince William very much want Bea and Eugenie to remain an important part of the royal “Firm”.
My mole revealed : “The King, the Queen and William and Kate all greeted them warmly.
“There were a lot of hugs and kisses and then they sat up the table near the senior royals.
“There were a lot of animated conversations and a lot of laughs.
“It was almost as if the scandals involving their parents had never happened, but of course we all know they did.
“I don’t know if the subject of Andrew and Sarah was raised at any point but you could just tell by the body language that Bea and Eugenie were being held in the bosom of the family, and clearly they are not blamed in any way for the actions of their parents.”
The sisters chatted to William and Kate’s three children George, Charlotte and Louis, and also other guests including Princess Anne and her husband Tim, Edward and Sophie and their daughter Lady Louise Windsor.
Growing up, William and Harry always had a soft spot for their cousins, and jokingly called Beatrice “Queen Bea” as she might come to the throne if the family were wiped out in a disaster!
That affection has carried on into adulthood, and it hints William might envisage a role for the sisters when he becomes King.
It now seems certain that they will join the rest of the royals at Sandringham on Christmas Day, while Andrew and Fergie will spend a lonely day at home in Royal Lodge near Windsor Castle.
I’m told the pair — who will live apart when they move out next year — now send out separate Christmas cards.
And Sarah has been writing grovelling apologies in hers for the part she has played dragging the royals through the mud.
Andrew is set to move to Marsh Farm, a remote run-down property on the Norfolk Sandringham estate seven miles from the big house.
But Fergie’s fate is still unknown.
By contrast Bea and Eugenie left the lunch beaming, with the latter’s candy-striped earrings summing up their optimistic mood and hopes for a future royal role.
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