Prince Charles Reportedly Upsets Prince Andrew After Removing Daughters Princess Beatrice and Eugenie off Royal Payroll

Although Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie have taken more active roles at royal engagements, their uncle Prince Charles reportedly took them off the royal payroll, a move that annoyed their father, Prince Andrew.

Evening Standard royal editor Robert Jobson told Vanity Fair in 2011 that Charles was not happy that Andrew was made trade envoy in 2001 after Andrew left the Royal Navy.

"When Charles ascends the throne—which he will do despite all the talk to the contrary—he'd like the royal family to be streamlined; he wants a smaller, more cost-effective monarchy," Jacobson explained. "Andrew has made a tremendous effort to keep Beatrice and Eugenie close to the Queen in order to assure their future as fully paid-up members of the Firm, as the royal family is called."

Jacobson told Vanity Fair, "In addition to their status as royal highnesses, Andrew has always wanted them to have around-the-clock security and the rank of working royals. But if Charles has his way, the girls will be thrown off the royal payroll and have to fend for themselves. Many of Andrew's inexcusable actions—consorting with rich oligarchs in North Africa, the Mideast, and the former Soviet Union, and begging friends to bail out Fergie—have been done with his daughters' welfare in mind."

At the time, a palace spokesperson did not comment on their status.

Beatrice and Eugenie, who was once the highest-ranking royal with a personal Instagram page until Prince Harry and Meghan Markle established theirs, did not get access to Sovereign Grant funds after they graduated from university in 2011 and 2012. Andrew, the Duke of York, reportedly asked Queen Elizabeth to open up funds to her granddaughters in 2016, but rejected him, reports the Express.

"Andrew has always wanted his daughters to be full-time royals," a royal source told the Express at the time. "He sees it as a slight on him and them if they are not. But Charles calls the shots and he wants the Royal Family giving value for money. He believes his daughters are being overshadowed by William, Kate and Harry and it will get worse as Prince George and Princess Charlotte get older."

Andrew allegedly "fears that they will be totally sidelined when the Queen dies," the source said.

The Duke of York's most recent attempt to get his daughters the same level of attention his older brothers' receive also did not go well. Last year, it was rumored that Andrew tried to get the BBC to air Eugenie's wedding to Jack Brooksbank, only months after Harry's wedding to Markle. As The Guardian pointed out, ITV was the only network to report the wedding, and even they only devoted a portion of its morning show to the nuptials.

Beatrice, 30, and Eugenie, 29, have also moved down a few rungs on the British line of succession since Prince William and Kate Middleton welcomed Prince Louis and Harry and Markle welcomed their son Archie. Beatrice and Eugenie are now ninth and tenth in the line of succession, respectively.

Photo credit: Samir Hussein/WireImage/Getty Images