Princess Beatrice is finding herself in an awkward position as she is both Prince Andrew’s eldest daughter and a trustee of Outward Bound UK, a charity the Duke of York is a patron of. The Board of Trustees will meet to discuss the Duke of York’s patronage, a spokeswoman for the charity told Express.co.uk. 

And Princess Beatrice “will not attend the meeting” as there is a conflict of interest between her relationship with Prince Andrew and her role in the Board, the spokeswoman added.

However, it isn’t clear whether Princess Beatrice autonomously decided not to be a part of the decision that could see the patronage taken away from the Duke or whether she was told not to attend.

Chris Ship, the ITV royal correspondent, said Beatrice will be “asked to sit out” of the meeting.

Other reports have claimed it is the 31-year-old princess who is refusing to go to the Board meeting. 

Express.co.uk has further inquired Outward Bound UK over this.

Prince Andrew replaced Prince Philip as patron of this charity in March this year – when Princess Beatrice also joined the Board as a trustee.

This comes as Prince Andrew is facing backlash after his 45-minute interview aired on Saturday evening.

The Duke of York spoke with Emily Maitlis about his relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and Virginia Roberts’ claims she had been trafficked to Andrew for sex three times.

The Duke said he didn’t regret his friendship with Epstein, a remark Ms Maitlis found “breathtaking”, and failed to explicitly express sympathy for the former financier’s victims.

Following the interview, Andrew pulled out of an engagement in South Yorkshire yesterday, his first to carry out since Newsnight aired, fearing to be booed and mocked by locals, according to friends who spoke to The Sun.

And, on the same day, he attended a “crisis summit” at Buckingham Palace, according to a source.

They told The Sun: “Prince Andrew and the Royal Household have been insistent the current controversy will not impact his work or public role.

“But to cancel a visit to the flood region is a sign of just how damaging this how now become for him.

“It’s hard to see how he could possibly do his work in this climate.”

The source continued, revealing Andrew was surprised to discover “how bad things are”. 

They continued: “This has become the biggest royal crisis in a generation and it’s hard to see it going away any time soon.

“He was at Buckingham Palace for some sort of crisis summit yesterday.

“It’s dawned on him just how bad things are.”

Partners of the Duke’s entrepreneurship scheme Pitch@Palace have been withdrawing their support – including accountancy giant KPMG and financial services company Standard Chartered. 

The Duke’s Pitch@Palace could lose other partners, with pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca saying it is reviewing its involvement.

A spokesman for the company said: “Our three-year partnership with Pitch@Palace is due to expire at the end of this year and is currently being reviewed.”

Huddersfield University has also said it will speak to representatives of its student union after a vote held earlier this week where it was agreed to campaign for the Duke of York to step down from his role of Chancellor.

The university said in a statement: “We are aware of the Students’ Union meeting last night and the motion it passed regarding the Chancellor.

“We listen to our students’ views and concerns and we will now be consulting with them over the coming weeks.”      

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