What the Duke's Titles Loss Means for Fergie, Beatrice and Princess Eugenie

The Duke's removal from the last vestiges of royal life has not only reshaped his future - it's sending ripples through his family too.

Fergie's Title Change

His ex-wife has now surrendered her ducal status and will simply be known as Sarah Ferguson.

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

Throughout this period, she has maintained the honorary royal post-marital designation Sarah, York Duchess. Now, she returns to her maiden name of Ferguson.

"She will have lost a certain prestige over this," said one monarchy expert. "She definitely utilizes the title – even her Twitter bio is @SarahTheDuchess."

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

Recently, multiple organizations removed her as patron after an email from over a decade ago revealed that she referred to Epstein her "supreme friend" and appeared to express regret for her public criticism of him.

Business Ventures and Philanthropy

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

And these, too, are more probable to be affected by the Epstein controversy than any change in title, says one monarchy analyst.

But Ferguson has been a great survivor in monarchical networks. She has continued recovering strongly.

"She is the ultimate survivor and expert at transforming," commented one royal author.

The Princesses

For Andrew and Sarah's two daughters, Beatrice, thirty-seven, and Eugenie, thirty-five, there's no official alteration.

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

There is also no modification to the line of succession.

Andrew remains eighth in line to the throne, succeeded by his daughters Beatrice and Eugenie, in ninth and twelfth position respectively.

But in practice their positions are "low down" and will likely become much further down as time goes on.

Coming Opportunities

Beatrice and Eugenie are also presently non-working royals, and while they occasionally accept positions – Princess Eugenie was recently named as a mentor for the monarch's charity program – experts also say they "can't see a scenario" in which they would advance into royal duties.

"Regarding Beatrice and Eugenie go, I think there's an appreciation of the reality that this scandal doesn't involve them, and it's not fair for it to impact them directly in the separate paths they are building for themselves," says one monarchy analyst.

"Their daughters are most unfortunate affected parties, they've had to suffer in silence and have been composed in their reserve," adds another royal author.

Ultimate Consequences

Ultimately, there appears to be minimal uncertainty that the person who will be most impacted by these developments will be the Duke himself.

For someone who always liked the royal privileges, the pomp and the ceremony, the relinquishment of his honors is deeply humiliating.

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