Beatrice of York has reappeared. Not on a red carpet, not at a state reception - at a baby shower in a London home. That is the picture sent out this weekend: a princess without protocol, without cameras, without a published photograph. And precisely for that reason, the picture speaks.

The guest of honour was Olivia Buckingham, her stylist and friend - the woman that part of the English press says turned Beatrice into one of the best-dressed members of the family. Buckingham, 43, is expecting her first child, and only she released photos from the baby shower. The princess was there - just not in the pictures.

The discreet presence is no accident. Since 19 February, when her father - Prince Andrew - was arrested, both Beatrice and her sister Eugenie have been living in a regime of quiet retreat. They did not appear at the Easter services, they did not appear at the centenary of Queen Elizabeth. A family that was once at the centre of the British tabloid circuit is now learning how to disappear from it.

Meanwhile, the party itself looked like something from a brochure: a two-tier cake with ribbons, personalised cookies with names, a table in blue tones suggesting Olivia will have a boy. Among the guests were Poppy Delevingne and Nicky Hilton. Beatrice was there as a friend, not as a princess - and that is the distinction she clearly seems to want now.

The last time the princess and her husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi were photographed was in March, at lunch in Notting Hill. They have two daughters - Sienna (4) and Athena (1) - and Edoardo's son Wolfie from a previous relationship. All of that they share with the public as much as needed, not a letter more.

And Eugenie was spotted a day earlier in Palermo, in the background of someone else's wedding, in a black fringed dress. Sisters who a year ago were part of every royal announcement now appear on someone else's stages - as guests, not as the lead characters. Is this the beginning of a quiet return, or just a new form of withdrawal? When a family has to learn how to be less visible in order to survive, both are possibilities.