This article originally appeared on Holly Wainwright's Substack, Mamamia Out Loud. You can subscribe, here.

It's hard getting dirt to stick to diamonds and gold.

It's taken years – over a decade, in fact – for the rumours about a guy once called Prince Andrew to be taken seriously enough for him to lose his "job", his status. His titles, his free house(s).

Even now, more than 10 days since he was arrested in that embarrassing dawn raid at Sandringham, there has been no follow-up, no charges laid in the investigation of his "misconduct in public office."

Watch: The hosts of Mamamia Out Loud discussing Beatrice and Eugenie's snub. Post continues below.

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Beatrice and Eugenie are being snubbed from the Royal family | Mamamia Out Loud

It all may be to come, of course, but until then the ripples keep on spreading, most recently rocking his daughters, Beatrice and Eugenie, and their standing in the royal family.

It seems silly, with such huge, impactful events ricocheting around the world, to be talking about invitations to a horse race. But look at it this way – with so many of the world's arbitrary rules being rewritten and its institutions crumbling, what's happening to the house of Windsor is very much in the wind.

And what's happening is that it's being edited. With Andrew's daughters Beatrice and Eugenie about to hit the cutting room floor.

There are a few events a year when the British royal family gets together and displays its breadth – Trooping of the Colour, Christmas Day, Remembrance Day, Royal Ascot. Ascot is a horse race, but it's also a time for the royal family to show off, ride in an open-topped carriage and showcase who's in and who's out. It's a society event, darlings. And this year, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie have been asked not to attend.

Princess Eugenie, Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Beatrice attend Ladies Day of Royal Ascot 2017. Image: Getty.

These two women, now both married mums of two with their own private jobs, are in a strange royal no-man's land. They have titles, are HRHs and partly live on royal property – Princess Beatrice between a country house in the Cotswolds and an apartment in St James Palace and Eugenie between her home in Portugal and a cottage in Kensington Palace. They are patrons of several charities, but they are not working royals and don't receive a pay packet from the public purse (although there are a couple of trust funds knocking around for them from the late Queen and Queen Mother).

So they're royal and not royal at once. But once a Princess is asked not to attend any royal functions, not to pose in the royal family photographs and not to, you know, go on about being royal any more, are they a Princess at all?

Prince William, who's playing the long-game on the monarchy that he will inherit, is said to be the leader in pushing his cousins out of the carriage, literally and figuratively. He wants all this Andrew business, and any of its potentially trailing stingers, out of the way before he sits in Dad's big chair.

The quiet erasure of Andrew Mountbatten Windsor's daughters could be seen as punishment for deeds beyond their control. An example of a long history of women being punished for the sins of the men in their lives. Or it could be seen as a step towards a new kind of monarchy – one closer to a meritocracy of sorts, where you f**k up and you're out. Or rather, your mother and father f**k up and you're out.

Listen to the entire episode of Mamamia Out Loud, here. Post continues below.

Because for the princesses, it's not just their Dad who William wants far away from anything with a whiff of royal endorsement. It's also their mum. Sarah Ferguson's toadying emails to an already-convicted Jeffrey Epstein, her acceptance of his money, her requests for flights, her gushing praise and her cavalier attitude to her daughters' privacy around him, have brought her low. Now speculation is bubbling that, with nothing left to lose, she could be seduced by a tell-all payday.

And if that happens, it's unlikely Beatrice and Eugenie will have a choice about 'handing back' their titles. William will whip them away faster than an invite to a horse race.

This article originally appeared on Holly Wainwright's Substack, Mamamia Out Loud. You can subscribe, here.

Feature image: Getty.