Sarah Ferguson and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor are intent on safeguarding their daughters’ standing within the Royal Family, royal biographer Andrew Lownie has claimed.
Mr Lownie claimed that Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie have now become the central focus for their parents following the couple's departure from Royal Lodge.
"Everything now is about the daughters," the author of Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York explained.
According to Mr Lownie, the princesses "have been passed the baton" regarding maintaining their royal standing.
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and Fergie set to 'fall on their swords' for Beatrice and Eugenie
|GETTY
"The deal is parents will fall on their swords as long as the daughters are taken care of," he continued to tell Marie Claire.
The former couple, who officially ended their marriage in 1996, had shared Royal Lodge as their residence since 2008 in what many considered an unconventional arrangement.
Their continued cohabitation prompted frequent speculation about whether they might remarry, but Mr Lownie characterised their bond differently.
The biographer described Sarah and Andrew as having functioned "always more business partners than a married couple" throughout their years together.
Andrew is set to leave Royal Lodge very soon
| GETTYIn his book, Mr Lownie claimed that Andrew himself was reluctant to wed again, reportedly telling a friend that "given Sarah's weaknesses, she wouldn't make an appropriate royal any more."
Their nearly two decades of shared living will now conclude, with Andrew relocating to the Sandringham estate whilst Fergie seeks separate accommodation.
Beatrice, now 37, and Eugenie, 35, have both established families of their own, with four grandchildren between them for the former royal couple.
The sisters share parenting duties for August, Ernest, Sienna and Athena, with their parents remaining actively involved as grandparents.
Sarah Ferguson is the mother of Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie
|GETTY
Though neither princess holds a position as a senior working royal, both periodically undertake duties representing the King.
Their attendance at the December Christmas gathering alongside the monarch and other family members demonstrated their continued inclusion within royal circles.
The King is reportedly keen to maintain close ties with his nieces despite the controversies surrounding their father.
Fergie had long maintained that she and Andrew were "the happiest divorced couple in the world," telling the Daily Mail in 2018: "We're divorced to each other, not from each other."
The royal siblings were recently photographed with Gabriela Peacock, a nutritionist who counts Beatrice as her closest friend
|INSTAGRAM: FIFI HOWDEN
However, Mr Lownie suggested this narrative has now collapsed following the fallout from both individuals' connections to Jeffrey Epstein.
He went further in his assessment of their current standing, describing both as "toxic" in the wake of the scandal.
"They are both toxic but Fergie may now feel she is better off on her own," Mr Lownie concluded.