🔗 Share this article

The Duke's removal from the final remnants of royal life has not only reshaped his future - it's creating waves through his family too.

Sarah Ferguson's Title Change

The former spouse has now lost her duchess title and will now be referred to as Sarah Ferguson.

For Sarah, sixty-six, the change will be the most visible.

For all these years, she has maintained the honorary royal divorcee title Sarah, York Duchess. Now, she reverts to her maiden name of Ferguson.

"She will have lost a bit of cachet over this," said one royal commentator. "She definitely does use the title – even her Twitter bio is @TheDuchessSarah."

But the relinquishment of her status may impact her much less than the scandal she's dealing with independently about her own links with the convicted financier.

Recently, multiple organizations dropped her as patron after an email from 2011 revealed that she referred to Epstein her "greatest ally" and appeared to express regret for her public criticism of him.

Business Ventures and Charity Work

Separate from her philanthropy, Ferguson also has multiple commercial enterprises.

And these ventures, are more likely to be impacted by the Epstein controversy than any alteration in status, says one monarchy analyst.

But Ferguson has been a remarkable endure in royal circles. She has continued bouncing back.

"She's the ultimate survivor and expert at transforming," said one royal author.

The Princesses

For the couple's two daughters, Beatrice, 37, and Eugenie, thirty-five, there's no official alteration.

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

There is also no change to the royal succession order.

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

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

Coming Opportunities

Beatrice and Eugenie are also currently non-working royals, and while they do sometimes accept positions – The younger princess was recently announced as a mentor for the King's Foundation network – commentators also suggest they "don't envision a scenario" in which they would step up into official responsibilities.

"Regarding Beatrice and Eugenie go, I think there's an appreciation of the reality that this controversy isn't about them, and it's unjust for it to affect them directly in the independent lives they are building for themselves," says one monarchy analyst.

"Their daughters are most unfortunate affected parties, they've had to endure quietly and have been composed in their silence," states another monarchy writer.

Final Impact

Ultimately, there appears to be little doubt that the person who will be most impacted by these developments will be Prince Andrew himself.

For someone who always liked the royal privileges, the ceremony and the pageantry, the relinquishment of his honors is profoundly embarrassing.

So to not have these, on a personal level, will significantly count.