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

The Duke's exit from the final remnants of monarchical duties has not only altered his path - it's creating waves through his immediate relatives too.

Fergie's New Status

The former spouse has now surrendered her ducal status and will now be referred to as Sarah Ferguson.

For Ferguson, 66, the transition will be the most apparent.

For all these years, she has kept the courtesy royal post-marital designation Sarah, Duchess of York. Now, she returns to her maiden name of Ferguson.

"She has lost a bit of cachet over this," said one royal commentator. "She definitely does use the title – including her Twitter bio is @TheDuchessSarah."

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

Recently, several charities dropped her as patron after correspondence from over a decade ago showed that she referred to Epstein her "supreme friend" and appeared to express regret for her negative comments of him.

Business Ventures and Philanthropy

Separate from her charitable activities, Ferguson also has multiple commercial enterprises.

And these, too, are more likely to be affected by the Epstein scandal than any alteration in status, says one monarchy analyst.

But Ferguson has been a remarkable endure in monarchical networks. She has continued recovering strongly.

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

The Daughters

For the couple's two daughters, Beatrice, thirty-seven, and Eugenie, thirty-five, there's no formal change.

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

There is also no change to the line of succession.

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

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

Future Prospects

Beatrice and Eugenie are also currently non-working royals, and while they do sometimes take on roles – The younger princess was recently named as a advisor for the monarch's charity network – commentators also suggest they "can't see a scenario" in which they would advance into royal duties.

"As far as Beatrice and Eugenie are concerned, I think there's an appreciation of the reality that this scandal isn't about them, and it's not fair for it to impact them personally in the separate paths they are carving out for themselves," explains one monarchy analyst.

"The princesses are most unfortunate affected parties, they've had to suffer in silence and have been composed in their reserve," states another monarchy writer.

Final Impact

Ultimately, there seems to be minimal uncertainty that the individual who will be most impacted by all of this will be the Duke himself.

For someone who consistently enjoyed the trappings of royalty, the ceremony and the ceremony, the loss of his titles is deeply humiliating.

Therefore lacking those, on a individual basis, will really matter.