Prince Andrew reportedly didn’t attend Princess Beatrice’s engagement party

Here’s what we know…

Prince Andrew made news last month as he finally addressed his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, 66-year-old multimillionaire businessman and registered sex offender who died in an apparent suicide earlier this year.

Epstein, whose name Prince Andrew has been linked to, was being held without bail on charges of sex trafficking girls (some as young as 14) and in an attempt to address the allegations, Prince Andrew did a royal first, engaging in a one-hour ‘car crash’ interview about Epstein with BBC Newsnight’s Emily Maitlis, aired from Buckingham Palace. As a result, he was forced to step down from royal duties and his Buckingham Palace office.

Two people that have been feeling the full force of the scandal are his daughters, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, whose partners are said to be working over time protecting them and keeping them distracted as they ‘go through hell’.

Speculation has been surrounding the two royals, with the scandal said to have affected Princess Beatrice’s fiancé’s birthday and now her upcoming nuptials.

After being forced to delay her engagement party, with the original event scheduled soon after her father’s controversial TV interview, Princess Beatrice and Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi celebrated with friends yesterday.

But while celebrity guests came out in force to the Chiltern Firehouse gathering, one person who didn’t seem to be in attendance was Princess Beatrice’s father, Prince Andrew, who is reported to be laying low since the scandal.

Describing the past months as ‘incredibly tough’ in an interview with Vogue, Fergie went on to state: ‘When I talk about Prince Andrew, I talk about family because the last six months have been hard on the girls and me.’

The palace is yet to officially make a statement.