A body language expert noted that years before the Royal Family scandal with Andrew became public, that the former Duke and his daughter were ‘deliberately’ not following Royal protocol
Even before the rising tensions between Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and the Royal Family, he and his daughter Princess Beatrice deliberately put on a “power play” towards the others.
During the late Queen Elizabeth’s 93rd birthday celebrations, her granddaughter Beatrice was the only person who didn’t give her a curtsy and instead simply just smiled.
According to body language expert Judi James, Beatrice and Andrew’s choice to not abide by the traditional etiquette shows signs the pair were already “deviating” from royal protocol six years before Andrew and Beatrice’s relationship with the Royal Family faced scrutiny over their ties to paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
READ MORE: Royal Family ‘suspect something’ as Beatrice and Eugenie ‘banned’ from key event
Judi claims that Beatrice, 37, and Andrew stood by the entrance of the chapel, and positioned themselves away from the rest of the royals in a “deliberate” fashion so that the former prince could “gloat about his legendary role as the late Queen’s favourite son”.
When the Queen arrived at Windsor’s St George’s Chapel in April 2019, she was greeted by a number of royals including Princess Kate, Zara Tindall and Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, who all curtseyed.
The expert told the Daily Mail: “Beatrice clearly shuns the act of respectfully greeting the other royal women so studiously and emphatically and stands upright and stares as her grandmother passes and walks into the church. It gives the impression that Andrew is performing some status-leap frogging to define his own ‘special role’ in the family with a spot of non-verbal power play.
“He makes a bee-line for the spot nearest the door so he and Beatrice can dart in right behind the Queen, leaving Princess Anne lingering to one side and his brother Edward right at the back of the royal line.” She further noted that both Beatrice and her father’s greetings were “deliberately casual”.
Andrew greeted his mother with a “cocked head and puckered brows that suggest he’s making an informal joke” Judi continued, while Beatrice smiles but the “smile drops” as the Queen passes. While the other women all followed royal protocol, Judi said they all had a “warm, loving, more family-based smile” and they all noticeably “bob down one after the other”.
It could be argued that the Princess may have already curtseyed to her grandmother earlier in the day, which according to royal protocol would mean she wouldn’t have had to do it again. But her choice not to, even if she already had, suggests to Judi it “sent out a rather deliberate-looking message”.
Yesterday, it was reported that King Charles has been forced to keep his nieces at an arm’s length.
The monarch has always had a good relationship with the princesses, and was determined to maintain that they were wholly unaffected when Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was stripped of his titles last year.
But now that more claims against the royal sisters have emerged, with more and more royal commentators and fans alike calling for Beatrice and Eugenie to speak up on their parents’ indiscretions, a royal insider claims Charles has had no choice but to take decisive action.
Given the growing calls for the royal sisters to take accountability, a royal source told the Daily Mail that King Charles has had no choice but to distance himself from his nieces in order to protect the reputation of the Royal Family.
The insider said: “Beatrice and Eugenie are particularly vulnerable at the moment. As they are dragged further into the Epstein web, the King is shifting his stance on the girls’ future. Although they aren’t implicated in any of Epstein’s wrongdoings, their own association with him threatens to tarnish the reputation of the throne.”
