King Charles III has seemingly avoided his beloved nieces, Princess Beatrice and Eugenie, at a high-profile wedding.
His Majesty and his wife, Queen Camilla, cut short the second marriage ceremony of his nephew, Peter Phillips and Harriet Sperling in the Cotswolds over the weekend.
It has now been reported that the 77-year-old monarch made a brief appearance with his life partner after the National Audit Office revealed the King's secret funding for Beatrice and Eugenie in a 50-page report.
Insiders close to Buckingham Palace said that the royal couple was the first to depart from the royal wedding as the King deliberately wanted to avoid his two nieces, after facing fresh questions over his relationship with the York family.
The King chose to attend and prioritised Derby Day on the same day, which his mother, the late Queen Elizabeth II, attended religiously.
However, since he ascended the British throne in 2022, this appearance marked the King and Queen's first in five years.
"There has been considerable surprise behind palace walls at the King’s sudden enthusiasm for attending the Derby. While the event is undoubtedly important to him because of his mother’s affection for it, some people have noted that it also provides an elegant way of limiting the amount of time he spends at the wedding celebrations," the source told.
Furthermore, an insider said, "If he remains at Peter’s for the reception, there is every chance he will have found himself in lengthy conversations with members of the York family."
The subtle estrangement between King Charles and the Princesses of York began after a National Audit Office released a report, revealing His Majesty secretly paying rents for Beatrice and Eugenie's residences in royal palaces.
Notably, the documents were issued during Andrew Mountbatten Windsor's criminal probe after his arrest in February of this year.
So far, neither King Charles nor the Princesses has responded to these speculations.
