EXCLUSIVE: Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie 'Dreading Christmas Amid Feud With Dad Andrew'

With Christmas approaching, insiders said the sisters face difficult decisions about where to spend the holidays, whether to attend the royal family's traditional gathering at Sandringham and how to avoid upsetting either parent.

A palace insider exclusively claimed: "The sisters are struggling to navigate the family tensions, with their loyalty to Fergie outweighing their sympathy for their father.

"Beatrice and Eugenie, sisters, hold Andrew largely responsible for the family's predicament and fear spending Christmas together could expose the divisions between their parents.

"As a result, they are now facing an absolute minefield when it comes to Christmas, and it's taking all the excitement out of what should be a wonderful time of year. They've spent months trying to keep the peace and avoid upsetting either parent. Still, the situation has become so toxic that it's almost impossible to imagine everyone sitting around the same table and enjoying themselves."

The source noted, "They're having to think about who gets invited where, which family members might refuse to attend and whether spending time with one parent will be seen as a betrayal of the other. The last thing either of them wants is to become embroiled in another family argument, but they're starting to accept that there's probably no way of getting through the holidays without somebody being deeply unhappy."

The insider added: "Their biggest concern is Sarah because they know how devastated she'd be if she ended up spending Christmas alone while her daughters were celebrating with the rest of the royals.

"Both girls have always been incredibly close to their mother, and they feel a huge responsibility to make sure she isn't completely pushed aside. There's also a great deal of frustration towards Andrew because, in their eyes, his involvement in the scandal has caused enormous damage to the whole family."

"They still love him and don't want to cut him out of their lives, but that doesn't mean they're prepared to overlook everything that's happened," the source claimed. "If they're forced into a position where they have to choose between their parents, Sarah is almost certainly going to come first, and Andrew will find that incredibly difficult to accept.

"But the prospect of spending Christmas with Andrew is something they're both approaching with a real sense of dread. They are essentially feuding with him.

"They don't want him sitting on his own over the holidays, but neither of them is looking forward to the uncomfortable conversations and emotional baggage that will inevitably come with seeing him. There's a lot of hurt and anger beneath the surface, and they can't simply switch that off because it's Christmas Day."

The royal insider said, "Eugenie has even been considering whether getting away to Portugal might be the easiest solution, although that brings its own complications with the royal family. The sisters are desperate to protect their children from all this unpleasantness and give them a happy Christmas, but they're finding it incredibly hard to separate their own family celebrations from the ongoing fallout between their parents."