SHOCK SCENES IN MAYFAIR: Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie break down in tears and cling to each other after a heated street confrontation — moments before the world learns their disgraced father Prince Andrew has been officially stripped of his royal titles. Witnesses say the sisters’ emotional hug revealed more than words ever could — the end of an era, and the heartbreak of daughters caught in the royal fallout.

Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie have been spotted sharing an emotional embrace – and appeared to be consoling each other – just as their father officially became a commoner and was ordered to Congress.

The sisters hugged when they met in Mayfair, London, yesterday in their first public appearance together since Andrew was stripped of all his royal titles and his Windsor home.

Hours later Andrew Mountbatten Windsor was ordered to appear in front of Congress to explain his links to paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

His daughters were spotted chatting intensely in the street as they walked together through London’s most exclusive district. At one point they did appear to be consoling one another.

They stood on a street corner for a few minutes, talking tersely and without smiles, before sharing a close embrace as they said goodbye to one another. Beatrice looked particularly solemn as she walked away.

Their warm, lingering hug came on a busy street close to Green Park and Buckingham Palace – around the time when Charles III issued a rare Letters Patent.

The official document, published by the Crown Office in The Gazette, the UK’s official public record, formally stripped Andrew of his prince title and also removed his HRH.

The two princesses will retain both their HRH titles and membership of the ‘House of York’ because the King is keen to ensure his nieces are not tainted by the ‘sins of their father’, royal sources have said.

Beatrice and Eugenie are close to their parents but have been reportedly spending more time supporting their beleaguered father.

They have also supported their mother Sarah Ferguson, who is said to be considering emigrating while Andrew will be banished to Sandringham, Norfolk.

But yesterday they were supporting each other through what will also be a very testing time for them too.

Both were wrapped up in winter coats but Beatrice was more formally dressed.

It is not known if they were discussing their father’s situation.

Eugenie lives at Kensington Palace but Beatrice lives further afield in the Cotswolds.

Both their parents must now leave Windsor’s Royal Lodge in the fallout from Virginia Giuffre’s book and the Epstein scandal.

The sisters have kept a low profile since the scandal erupted.

Princess Eugenie put on a brave face as she was spotted in public for the first time earlier this week since her father Andrew was stripped of his titles and Windsor home.

The 35-year-old, who is 12th in line to the throne, was photographed laughing with her husband Jack Brooksbank, 39, in Notting Hill.

The couple looked happy and were enjoying an animated conversation as they walked through west London this week.

Despite the scandal that has engulfed Andrew and Sarah Ferguson, a relaxed Eugenie and Jack are clearly keen to continue life as normal.

The couple were seen smiling on their walk and repeatedly exchanged warm glances. They spoke briefly with their companions, who were laughing along as Eugenie chatted expressively.

They were both casually dressed, with the princess wearing black jeans and a matching top with brown suede boots. Her husband of seven years wore jeans, a jumper, Nike trainers and a bobble hat.

Recent events have inevitably placed a strain on family relations.

Multiple sources told the Daily Mail that both princesses have gone out of their way to strongly support beleaguered Andrew in recent weeks.

Both girls are said to be deeply worried about his mental wellbeing, with Andrew having become a virtual recluse at Royal Lodge, which he is due to leave.

But one source said it won’t be for a while.

‘Even when she is sitting in Royal Lodge, Sarah can spend the money,’ one informed source told Rebecca English.

‘The Amazon deliveries that go up to Royal Lodge are unbelievable. There are rooms full of boxes that haven’t even been opened.

‘It will take weeks, if not months, to shift all their s*** out.’

Beatrice and Eugenie’s mother is said to be ‘blaming herself’ and may quit the UK as she finally separates from her disgraced ex-husband Andrew Mountbatten Windsor 30 years after their divorce.

The three women were known as the ‘tripod’, the nickname used by Sarah Ferguson and her daughters to describe their mutually supportive relationship.

But apparently that relationship is more strained now.

The former Duchess of York is said to be ‘more on edge’ than Andrew and is hunkering down in Royal Lodge ‘surrounded by Amazon deliveries’ amid the couple’s dramatic fall from grace.

Andrew was stripped of his titles and has also agreed to surrender his lease on the 30-room Royal Lodge, where he has paid ‘peppercorn rent’ for decades.

He is expected to be offered a home in Sandringham.

The former couple have been exposed in recent weeks after emails emerged showing contact with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, despite them publicly dissociating themselves from him.

A source told the Daily Mail: ‘Sarah is going around blaming herself. She keeps repeating “what if I hadn’t done this, or hadn’t done that”.’

Meanwhile, another source said that Fergie is now considering leaving the country.

They said: ‘She’s always rather lived on the hoof and aside from her children and grandchildren, there’s not a lot to keep her here.

‘Put it this way, the invitations have dried up overnight.’

For years, Sarah has been a staunch ally of her husband, supporting him in the aftermath of his disastrous Newsnight interview in 2019.

The former spouses, who officially divorced in 1996, have even continued to live together for most of the three decades since.

But Sarah has now said she will find her own place and ‘will move on with her life’ – as Andrew begins his new chapter as a private citizen at the Sandringham estate in Norfolk.

Nevertheless, it is expected to take weeks for Andrew to finally leave Royal Lodge – with the move not due to take place until the new year.

An insider explained that while Sarah and Andrew once brought strength to one another, the opposite now appears to be the case.

‘There are many who have almost admired her dogged loyalty to her ex-husband and family,’ they said.

‘She has always found a way to bounce back from the many public scandals she has faced over the years, normally with a well-paid public mea culpa and a promise to change her ways.

‘[But] That’s unlikely to happen this time. It’s not just a question of her finances now, but her personal dealings with a serial sexual predator – and her willingness to lie about them.

‘The phone has stopped ringing overnight. Even those who were willing to defend her less than a month ago don’t want to have anything to do with her now.

‘It’s a disaster. Professionally and personally. Even she can’t see a way of bouncing back.’

It comes as the former Duchess of York, who is an author, is also facing publishing delays for her latest children’s book which was due to hit the shelves on October 9.

However, according to a press release in Bookseller, it is now showing as only available from November 28 on Amazon.

The challenges emerged after Waterstones bookstores told BBC News that the book’s publication date had moved.

Meanwhile Sarah’s publisher, New Frontier Publishing, did not respond to a request for comment when contacted by the BBC.

But one industry source told the BBC that it would be ‘an entirely sensible decision’ to delay publication.

Andrew Mountbatten Windsor ‘probably will’ have to bow to his daughters Beatrice and Eugenie, says royal expert Robert Hardman – as he answers all your questions about the disgraced former Duke’s future

When King Charles stripped Andrew Mountbatten Windsor of his remaining titles and threw him out of the Royal Lodge, it left royal watchers with many unanswered questions.

Does the disgraced former duke now have to bow to his daughters, Princesses Eugenie and Beatrice?

Having been ‘exiled’ from the Firm, will he now finally have to apply for a passport?

And what now of his ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, who has lived at Royal Lodge with Andrew for many years – despite the couple’s divorce in 1996?

Following Buckingham Palace‘s statement, royal biographer Robert Hardman, author of Charles III: New King. New Court. The Inside Story, sat down with the Daily Mail’s Palace Confidential host Jo Elvin to analyse the implications of the monarch’s unprecedented move.

Mr Hardman described Charles as the ‘fountain of justice’ and likened the King’s decision to strip Andrew of his honours and titles to ‘effectively categorising him in the same way as war criminals and enemies of state’.

Explaining the logistics behind Charles’s decision, Mr Hardman said: ‘The King has exercised his Royal Prerogative with parliamentary and government approval, he’s talked to the Prime Minister about this.’

Answering listener questions, he also broke down what Andrew’s future might hold and the fate of the British monarchy in the eye-opening instalment of Palace Confidential.