Princess Eugenie Quietly Steps Away From Anti-Slavery Charity as Epstein Fallout Refuses to Fade

For years, the British royal family insisted the scandal surrounding Prince Andrew could be contained. Andrew stepped back from public duties, the palace closed ranks, and officials framed the crisis as a personal problem tied to one disgraced prince. Reality has proved far more complicated.

Both of Andrew’s daughters now find themselves back in the spotlight with their royal connections coming under fresh scrutiny after Princess Beatrice was recently pictured alongside a suspected Chinese spy, raising new questions about the York family’s judgment and associations.

Against that backdrop, Andrew’s younger daughter, Princess Eugenie, has quietly stepped down from her role as patron of Anti-Slavery International after seven years. The organisation confirmed her departure and removed her profile from its website as the continuing fallout from the Jeffrey Epstein files continues to ripple through the York family.

The timing raises difficult questions about optics, accountability and the uneasy intersection between royal charity work and one of the most notorious trafficking scandals in modern history.

The patronage ended quietly as Epstein’s scrutiny intensified

The world’s oldest anti-slavery organisation confirmed that Eugenie’s patronage had ended.

In a statement, the charity said:

“After seven years, our patronage from HRH Princess Eugenie of York has come to an end. We thank the Princess very much for her support for Anti-Slavery International.”

The Observer

Eugenie has spent years campaigning against human trafficking and modern slavery. In 2017, she co-founded The Anti-Slavery Collective with activist Julia de Boinville. The project placed the princess at international forums discussing trafficking, including events at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Yet the renewed release of documents connected to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has once again pulled the York family back into public scrutiny.

Epstein’s network involved allegations of trafficking and sexual exploitation across several countries. One of his most prominent accusers, Virginia Giuffre, alleged that she was trafficked to have sex with Andrew in 2001. Andrew has repeatedly denied the allegation. The scandal has never fully disappeared from the royal family’s orbit.

The York family’s Epstein links remain uncomfortable

Emails released in the Epstein files show that Eugenie and her sister Princess Beatrice travelled to the United States with their mother, Sarah Ferguson, in 2009 and met Epstein for lunch shortly after he was released from prison.

At the time, Epstein was serving house arrest after pleading guilty to procuring a minor for prostitution. Emails also suggest Epstein paid for flights connected to that trip. In one message, an aide wrote that “the princesses would like to accompany the Duchess” and asked whether Epstein would be willing to cover the travel costs.

After the meeting, Ferguson reportedly thanked him in an email that read:

“Thank you, Jeffrey, for being the brother I have always wished for.”

There has been no suggestion of wrongdoing by Eugenie or Beatrice in relation to Epstein. But the connections have continued to cast a long shadow over the York family.

The sisters are central to Andrew’s account of events. During his controversial BBC Newsnight interview, Andrew claimed that on the evening Giuffre said she was trafficked to him in London, he had been at home with his daughters after taking Beatrice to a party at Pizza Express in Woking. Neither daughter has publicly commented on that claim.

Questions also surround the princess’s own charity

Eugenie’s decision to step away from Anti-Slavery International arrives as scrutiny grows around the finances of her own organisation.

The Anti-Slavery Collective reported spending £191,537 on salaries compared with £97,206 on charitable programmes in the year ending April 2025. The Charity Commission has confirmed it is assessing concerns about the spending structure to determine whether further action is necessary.

The charity raised more than £1.1 million at a high-profile gala in London in 2023 attended by celebrities including Ed Sheeran.

Supporters argue the princess has used her profile to highlight modern slavery. Critics say the situation exposes an uncomfortable contradiction: campaigning against trafficking while remaining silent about a scandal tied directly to her own family.

A charity exit that says more than a statement ever could

To be clear, no one has accused Princess Eugenie of wrongdoing. She did not create the scandal surrounding her parents. But royal privilege has a funny habit of working like inheritance. Titles pass down through families, and so do reputational messes.

Stepping away from the patronage was probably the only sensible move. An anti-slavery charity should not have to compete with headlines about Prince Andrew and Jeffrey Epstein every time it tries to talk about trafficking victims.

Still, the situation says a lot about how the monarchy operates. Royal charity campaigns lean heavily on the idea of moral authority. When that authority is tangled up in scandal, the whole performance starts to look a little awkward.

So yes, Eugenie stepping aside makes sense. It is hard to position yourself as a global voice against trafficking while the family WhatsApp group includes the Duke of York.

At some point, even royal PR has to acknowledge the obvious. Some causes simply do not pair well with unresolved scandals.

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