Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor sends encouraging message to daughters ahead of royal return

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor is reported to have reached out to his daughters, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, ahead of their recent reunion with the wider Royal Family, in a private email urging them to “hold their heads high.”

The message is said to have been sent shortly before the sisters made a notable public appearance at Peter Phillips and Harriet Sperling’s wedding in the Cotswolds last Saturday.

Beatrice and Eugenie arrived separately at All Saints’ Church in Kemble, joining other members of the Royal Family including King Charles and Queen Camilla, who later departed for the Epsom Derby alongside the Prince and Princess of Wales, as well as Mike and Zara Tindall.

Unlike some of the more formal arrivals, the sisters opted for a more understated entrance, walking confidently toward the church rather than arriving by car directly at the entrance.

Beatrice wore a mint green floral dress and arrived under an umbrella alongside her husband, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi. 

Eugenie, who is pregnant, opted for a navy midi coat dress paired with blue block-heel sandals and a coordinating headpiece as she arrived with her husband, Jack Brooksbank.

According to reports, Andrew’s email came as a gesture of encouragement as his daughters stepped back into a high-profile royal setting. 

The former Duke of York did not attend the ceremony himself and remains largely out of public royal life.

Their appearance at the wedding marked their first public engagement with the Royal Family this year, after previously being absent from the Easter Sunday service in April by royal agreement.